The Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates sport identical 35-35 records, but their recent routes have been vastly different.
Winners of a season-best six games in a row and nine of 10 overall, the Marlins will look to move above .500 for the first time in two months when they visit the plummeting Pirates on Saturday afternoon.
Liam Hicks belted a two-run homer among his three hits to help Miami record an 8-3 victory in the opener of a three-game series on Friday. Kyle Stowers and Heriberto Hernandez each had two hits, an RBI and a run.
“Winning always makes things feel better,” Stowers told Marlins Radio Network. “At the end of the game, win or lose, it matters, so when we lose, we don’t like it. Everyone is a lot happier when we are winning.”
Six Marlins drove in at least one run in the series opener.
“Feel like the lineup has lengthened out now and we can mount innings from different parts of the lineup, and that’s a good sign,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said.
The last time the Marlins were above .500 was April 13, when they improved to 9-8 with a 10-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
The Pirates, in turn, have lost six of their last seven games.
Right-hander Lake Bachar (0-0, 2.97 ERA) will serve as the opener of what is expected to be a bullpen game for the Marlins on Saturday.
Bachar has started just two of his 21 games this season and three of his 84 appearances in his career.
He struck out three batters and scattered two hits in two scoreless innings of relief Wednesday in a no-decision against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Marlins won 8-0.
Bachar, 31, has a 3.68 ERA in five relief appearances (no starts) against the Pirates.
He’d be wise to pitch carefully to Brandon Lowe, who has gone deep in back-to-back games to boost his team-leading homer total to 17. Lowe also has five RBIs in his last three games.
The Pirates will send right-hander Bubba Chandler (2-7, 4.91 ERA) to the mound on Saturday.
Chandler, 23, allowed three runs (two earned) on one hit in 5 1/3 innings of a 3-2 setback vs. the Braves on Sunday.
He has yet to face the Marlins in his career.
Hard-throwing Antwone Kelly was summoned from Triple-A Indianapolis and made his major league debut for Pittsburgh on Friday, allowing Hicks’ two-run homer and one more hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief.
“I think you just gotta have the same mentality,” Kelly said of working out of the bullpen. “It’s baseball at the end of the day. So, starter, reliever, whatever they want. I’ll be ready.”
The bullpen has been an issue throughout the season for the Pirates, and Friday was no different.
“They’re trying to simplify everything and get back to executing pitches, getting ahead doing things that we talked about in spring training,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. “Tonight, in the seventh inning with the two walks, it didn’t work out that way. The key to pitching is getting ahead and being able to put guys away and induce early soft contact early in the count.”
–Field Level Media
