It will be back to where it all began for the Miami Marlins’ Ryan Weathers as the left-hander takes the mound against the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.

Weathers had never pitched in a regular-season game when he made his debut for the San Diego Padres in a 2020 National League Division Series contest against the Dodgers. He showed promise by not allowing a run over 1 1/3 innings in the pressure cooker that became an eventual Dodgers victory.

Now a member of the Marlins after a trade last season, Weathers (2-3, 4.54 ERA) will face Los Angeles on Wednesday after matching his career high by going six innings against the Oakland Athletics on Friday. He gave up three runs but didn’t walk a batter while taking the loss.

“I thought Weathers was good (with) 70 percent strikes, or something like that,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Slider (and) changeup was excellent. I thought the command on both of those pitches and the swing-and-miss was good.”

Weathers will need more of the same against the high-octane Los Angeles offense, which used a Max Muncy grand slam in the first inning on Tuesday to start its way to an 8-2 victory over the Marlins. The Dodgers turned five walks, two hit batters and five hits into the win.

“You get in bad counts and they’ll make you pay,” Schumaker said. “That’s what good teams do. You cannot do that against that team, and that’s how they get the eight runs on the board.”

Counting his playoff appearance, Weathers’ six career outings against the Dodgers are tied for his most against any club. In the five regular-season outings (four starts) vs. Los Angeles, he is 0-1 with a 4.66 ERA.

In something of an awakening, the Marlins delivered a three-game home sweep of the Colorado Rockies last week, but they are 1-4 heading into the finale of a six-game West Coast trip.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, are on a six-game winning streak and looking to sweep consecutive home series after rolling through the Atlanta Braves over the weekend. Los Angeles has won 13 of 15.

“It’s a good indicator of what this group is capable of and I think everyone in here would admit that we let those two (recent defeats) get away from us,” Muncy said. “It’s been fun showing up every single day, and we have a good group here.”

Right-hander Gavin Stone started off the homestand by allowing one run over six innings against the Braves on Friday in a game the Dodgers won in 11 innings. He gets to put bookends on the homestand by pitching Wednesday.

Stone (2-1, 4.06 ERA) has not faced the Marlins in his career.

Through eight appearances (four starts) last season and six outings (all starts) this year, Stone has been trending upward. In his past two outings, he gave up two combined runs over 13 innings. He allowed two hits over seven innings in a road win over the Toronto Blue Jays on April 26.

“We’re in first place right now, and he saved us a lot, helped us win a lot of baseball games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Watching his growth, I’m not surprised given his makeup, his command of the fastball, confidence in the changeup, the slider has gotten a lot better. So he’s starting to become a real major league starter.”

–Field Level Media