Philadelphia right fielder Nick Castellanos figures to be back in the lineup when the visiting Phillies continue their four-game series against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday.
Castellanos was benched for the Tuesday game after making what manager Rob Thomson considered to be an “inappropriate” comment during the series opener on Monday.
With Castellanos watching from the bench, Miami snapped the Phillies’ five-game win streak with an 8-3 victory on Tuesday.
Philadelphia shortstop Trea Turner homered for the second straight game, and he leads the National League with 90 hits.
Castellanos’ outburst on Monday came after he was replaced by Johan Rojas for defensive purposes in the eighth inning. Castellanos maintained that he is ready to move forward after his streak of 236 straight games started came to an end.
“I understand the decision,” Castellanos said. “It was when I got taken out. I wasn’t happy about it. I spoke my mind. (Thomson) said that I crossed a line, so my punishment is that I’m not playing.”
Miami has won four of its past five games while receiving contributions from throughout the lineup. Eric Wagaman and Jesus Sanchez both homered in the Tuesday win.
“It just continues to show whoever we’re playing, our guys are going to put up a fight,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “They believe they can beat anyone. And we’ve been playing really good baseball now for two, three weeks.”
Xavier Edwards had three hits and drove in a run on Tuesday for the Marlins, who had nine players record at least one hit in the win.
“We’ve got to continue to do this and more,” Sanchez said. “We’re a team that puts the ball in play a lot, and to be honest, I was not surprised with what we had today. And I believe we can do more.”
The Marlins will recall right-hander Adam Mazur from Triple-A Jacksonville on Wednesday to make his team debut and his first major league appearance of the year.
The 24-year-old Minnesota native posted a 3.62 ERA with a 55-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 12 games (11 starts) across 59 2/3 innings this season for Jacksonville.
Mazur made his major league debut with the San Diego Padres last season, going 1-3 with a 7.49 ERA in eight starts covering 33 2/3 innings. He has yet to face the Phillies in his career.
Philadelphia will counter with Ranger Suarez (5-1, 2.32 ERA), who struck out six in seven shutout innings during an 8-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday.
After giving up seven runs in his first start of the season, the 29-year-old left-hander has allowed a total of seven runs (six earned) in his past seven outings covering 46 2/3 innings.
“He gets into these strings, you know, where he’s pretty dominant,” Thomson said. “He really can command the fastball, and he was doing that (against Toronto). Pinpoint control, a lot of strikes — all the stuff was good.”
Dane Myers is 5-for-12 against Suarez, who is 6-2 with a 3.24 ERA in 21 career games (10 starts) vs. Miami.
Myers sat out the Tuesday game after he was hit by a pitch on his left elbow in the second inning a day earlier. He is listed as day-to-day with a bruised elbow after X-rays were negative.
–Field Level Media
