The Miami Marlins will bring a season-long six-game winning streak into the final game of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix on Sunday.
The Marlins overcame a four-run deficit in the final two innings for an 8-7, 10-inning victory Saturday as they clinched the series against the Diamondbacks. Miami had 11 hits Saturday and has at least 10 in each game of its winning streak.
The Marlins have won 12 of their last 17.
“There’s a lot of belief now in each other,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “A lot of belief that we can win games, and win games in a variety of ways.”
Marlins right-hander Cal Quantrill (3-7, 5.56 ERA) will oppose Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (3-4, 5.40) as the Marlins look to go 6-0 on a western swing that started with a sweep in San Francisco.
Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez and rookie catcher Agustin Ramirez have been the ringleaders on the road trip.
Lopez’s two-run homer in a three-run eighth Saturday started the comeback from a 7-3 deficit. He extended his hitting streak to nine games, during which he is 16-for-37 with 13 RBIs.
“A very confident player,” McCullough said. “We have a lot of belief in Otto and think that what we are seeing now is a version of Otto that can consistently show up over time.”
Ramirez had three hits, including the game-winning single in the 10th. He is 10-for-22 with four doubles, a homer and six RBIs on the five-game trip.
For Arizona, Ketel Marte homered and drove in four runs Saturday and Geraldo Perdomo had three hits and scored twice, but Shelby Miller could not hold a 7-6 lead in the ninth for his fifth blown save in 14 chances. Perdomo’s first-inning error led to an unearned run.
“The way I look at it is that we deserved to lose this game,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We didn’t pick up the baseball in the first inning. We put ourselves in a situation that was pretty cruddy. We have to play better, plain and simple.
“We’re a .500 baseball team and not happy about it, but we have to do something about it. We can’t complain about it. We can’t keep wondering when it is going to happen. It is going to happen when we make it happen.”
Quantrill, who has not given up more than three earned runs in any of his past nine starts, is 1-3 with a 6.19 ERA in seven career appearances (six starts) against Arizona.
Rodriguez enters after his most effective start of the season, when he struck out 10 in six scoreless innings of a 10-0 victory at the Chicago White Sox on Monday. He is 2-1 with a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings in four starts since returning from the injured list.
Rodriguez beat the Marlins 6-4 when the Diamondbacks completed a three-game sweep in Miami on April 17, giving up three runs (one earned) on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He is 2-1 with a 5.74 ERA in three career starts against Miami.
–Field Level Media
