The Miami Marlins on Friday night will open a seven-game road trip, during which they will have a chance to gain ground in the National League wild-card race.
Four games out of the final wild-card spot, the Marlins will play the opener of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals on Friday. Miami then will play three games vs. Kansas City, with the Royals and Nationals 15 and 10 games under .500, respectively.
The Marlins swept three games from the visiting Nationals last weekend and then lost two of three home games to the Boston Red Sox.
The Nationals, meanwhile, opened a 10-game homestand by splitting a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies.
Right-hander Eury Perez (7-9, 3.17 ERA) will start for Miami on Friday, while rookie left-hander Jackson Kent (0-2, 8.03) will make his fourth major league start for Washington.
Perez made his last start on Saturday against the Nationals, picking up the win after he allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits over five innings in a 4-2 victory. Perez is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA in his past three starts, with 16 strikeouts and 10 walks over 18 innings.
For his career, he is 2-1 with a 4.19 ERA in seven appearances (all starts) vs. Washington.
Kent, 23, has struggled with his control, walking 11 batters in 12 1/3 innings over his first three starts. Against the Marlins on Sunday, he allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings and took the loss in a 6-2 game.
“Wanted to get him through the fifth there,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “He had two outs to start the inning, but those next two guys got on.”
After getting routed by the Rockies 13-1 on Wednesday, Butera criticized his team. He only had positive things to say after a solid effort on the mound and at the plate produced a 7-1 win in Thursday’s series finale against Colorado.
Keibert Ruiz hit a two-run homer and Daylen Lile went deep among his three hits for Washington, which collected 13 hits and six walks. Five Nationals pitchers combined to hold the Rockies to five hits.
“All the way around, I couldn’t have been more proud of the effort, how hard these guys played today,” Butera said. “Just as a whole, we handled our business the right way, and we played the game the right way.”
Lile is batting .429 (12-for-28) with two doubles, three homers, seven runs and nine RBIs across his last seven games. He has four multi-hit efforts during that span.
Ruiz has hit safely in 12 of his last 16 games, batting .377 (20-for-53).
The Marlins were off on Thursday, one day after salvaging the finale against Boston. Ryan Gusto worked 5 2/3 innings in the 4-0 victory for his first win of the season.
Starter Janson Junk aided a short-handed Marlins bullpen by tossing a scoreless eighth inning three days after throwing 69 pitches in a start.
“(It) kind of just worked out for the team,” Junk said. “I was willing to do that for the guys. I know how taxed the bullpen has been, and if I was feeling good enough to do it and not put myself in jeopardy of getting hurt, I was willing to do it.”
Miami’s Javier Sanoja had three hits, and Otto Lopez had two hits and scored twice.
–Field Level Media
