Two hot pitchers will go head-to-head for the first time in their careers when the visiting Miami Marlins and San Francisco Giants continue a three-game series Wednesday night.
Five pitchers limited the Giants to five hits in the series opener Tuesday, a 4-2 Miami win that sent San Francisco starter Justin Verlander to a fifth straight defeat to begin his first season with the team.
Don’t blame the career 262-game winner, Giants manager Bob Melvin cautioned after his team’s fourth loss on its current seven-game homestand.
“I wish we knew,” Melvin said when asked why his team has struggled offensively when Verlander has pitched this season. His season-opening, 12-game winless streak has occurred despite the veteran giving up three or fewer earned runs seven times when pitching at least five innings, including Tuesday.
“I don’t know if we’re pressing because we want to get him a win,” Melvin continued. “We talk about it a little bit in hitters’ meetings. For whatever reason, we’re not supporting him well.”
The same has been true of late with Wednesday’s starter, right-hander Logan Webb (7-5, 2.49 ERA), who did not pitch when the Giants took two of three from the Marlins in Miami from May 30-June 1.
Webb easily could be 4-0 in June, having pitched to a 1.61 ERA in four starts with 30 strikeouts and just three walks. But he’s gotten a total of 11 runs of support, six of which came in a road win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 13.
The other results were a 1-0 loss and a 3-2 triumph in which he didn’t get a decision, and a 2-1 victory in his most recent outing last Thursday against the Cleveland Guardians. He was credited with the win in the Cleveland game, making him 2-0 in June.
The 28-year-old has gone 1-2 with a 3.72 ERA in six career starts against the Marlins.
Attempting to follow in the footsteps of starter Cal Quantrill for Miami in the rematch will be right-hander Edward Cabrera (2-2, 3.81 ERA), who outpitched Robbie Ray in a 1-0 home win over the Giants in May, throwing 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball. It improved his lifetime record against the Giants to 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA.
Since May 1, Cabrera, 27, has gone 2-1 with a 2.23 ERA in eight starts, striking out 43 and walking 15 in 40 1/3 innings.
Cabrera has never faced new Giants slugger Rafael Devers, whose 1-for-4 night in the series opener made him 6-for-27 (.222) since he was acquired from Boston earlier in the month.
The Miami starting staff took a hit Tuesday when it was determined that Max Meyer, one of the club’s top prospects, would require season-ending surgery to repair a labral issue in his right hip.
“Disappointed to get the news that Max’s season this year is over,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said before Tuesday’s game. “Now just turn the page to him getting right, getting back healthy for next year. Max is — and we all are — bummed out for him that it ended up having to go this direction.”
McCullough announced that Janson Junk, who made his first start of the season in Meyer’s spot last Friday, will remain in the rotation and get the ball in the series finale in San Francisco on Thursday. Junk earned a 6-2 win Friday against the Atlanta Braves, allowing one run on five hits in five innings.
–Field Level Media
