Playing decent baseball hasn’t been enough for the Miami Marlins.
They’ll need to dig deeper if they hope to avoid tying their franchise record for the longest losing streak.
Miami has lost 10 straight games heading into its matchup on Saturday afternoon against the visiting San Diego Padres.
The Marlins have lost 11 games in a row three times, most recently in 2011. All 10 losses in the current streak have been by three runs or less, including a 4-2 setback in the opener of the three-game series against San Diego on Friday night.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “We’re not finding a way to get over the hump here in certain moments of the game. So I don’t have any doubt that they’ll come out here (Saturday) and be incredibly motivated to come out and try to win a game and get us going in a different direction.”
“Losses all sting,” McCullough added. “If half of these losses were by double digits, I think we’d feel just as horrible as we do now.”
The Marlins were the best team in the majors from June 1 to July 9, going 26-8 to move into a wild-card spot. Then the losing streak began with a 3-2 loss to the visiting Cleveland Guardians on July 10.
“You take some solace in the fact that, hey, there’s still a lot of good things going on,” McCullough said. “We’re giving ourselves opportunities within games. We just, right now, aren’t coming through in those moments, but trust that if you continue to give yourselves those opportunities in those moments, it’s going to flip.”
Miami will send 23-year-old right-hander Eury Perez to the mound in hopes of ending the skid. Perez (5-7, 3.53 ERA) has a 1.14 ERA over his past seven starts. He most recently allowed one hit over six shutout innings Sunday vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. He did not receive a decision, however, in a 3-1 loss.
Perez made his only MLB start against San Diego on July 21 of last season and took the loss after allowing two runs and five hits in five innings of a 2-1 defeat.
The Padres plan to counter with left-hander JP Sears, who’s also pitching well this month but has lost two consecutive starts. Sears (2-3, 4.38 ERA) wasn’t feeling well in his most recent outing Monday but limited the Atlanta Braves to one earned run and three hits over five innings in a 3-2 loss.
“Really efficient,” Sears said after the performance. “I was happy to get some quick outs.”
Sears has made two starts against the Marlins in his career, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA.
Luis Rengifo continues to look like a smart acquisition for the Padres. His pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning on Friday gave San Diego a 4-2 lead it maintained the rest of the way.
The Padres signed Rengifo to a minor-league contract on June 26 after he was released by the Milwaukee Brewers three days earlier. He is 10-for-21 in his past six games, with two homers and seven RBIs.
“The guys push me, and the support, that’s the most important (thing),” Rengifo said of his new teammates in San Diego.
–Field Level Media
