A tantalizing pitching matchup headlines the series finale between Miami and host Pittsburgh, as right-handers Max Meyer of the Marlins and Paul Skenes of the Pirates will face off on Sunday afternoon.
Both Meyer and Skenes have six wins for their squads, with Meyer sharing top honors on his club with teammate Sandy Alcantara.
It’s good timing for Meyer’s turn in the rotation for the Marlins as they look to start anew after their six-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Meyer hasn’t lost a game so far in 2026, going 6-0 with a 2.85 ERA through his first 14 starts this season. He is 0-0 against the Pirates in his career, posting a 1.42 ERA over 6 1/3 innings in two starts.
Although the team came away with a 10-6 win over Arizona in his last start on Tuesday, Meyer received a no-decision after throwing 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Diamondbacks.
Marlins manager Clayton McCullough singled out Meyer’s execution of pitches in two-strike counts in that start as a possible point of improvement but admitted after the game, “We’re nitpicking Max’s outings now — getting into the sixth, a couple runs — because he’s just so good.
“He’s pitched that way this year that we just expect him to mow through people, but he can find ways to win games now and get through games in a lot of different ways and make pitches when he needs to.”
The Pirates are looking to end a worrying streak themselves, as they have lost each of the last five starts made by their ace Skenes (6-5, 2.84 ERA), the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner and a two-time All-Star in his third season.
Skenes, 24, didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent game, a 12-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday when he gave up two runs in six innings.
He has a 1-0 record and 2.38 ERA in two previous starts against the Marlins.
The Pittsburgh lineup is having to weather the injury bug as center fielder Oneil Cruz (hand) and rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin (elbow) are both on the injured list. The Pirates are looking for contributions to fill the gap from throughout the order.
In their win over the Marlins on Saturday, Tyler Callihan and Jake Mangum each recorded two-hit games from the No. 7 and 8 spots, sparking the key eighth-inning rally with back-to-back two-out singles.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Pirates manager Don Kelly.
“Nobody’s going to replace Oneil Cruz’s power or Konnor Griffin’s speed, but they’ve gone out there and been themselves and stayed within themselves to do that — to go the other way, have good at-bats,” Kelly said.
“When we’ve been good, we’re able to stack those together and score some runs — and that’ll lead to wins.”
The weekend series is up for grabs heading into Sunday’s rubber match.
Miami took Friday’s opener 8-3, spreading six runs between the seventh and eighth innings to break a 2-2 deadlock. Pittsburgh then leveled the series with a 3-2 win on Saturday thanks to a go-ahead RBI when Spencer Horwitz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth.
–Field Level Media
