While the Miami Marlins are trying to remain a serious contender for a National League wild-card spot, the last-place Kansas City Royals have played like a postseason team of late.
The Royals will try to extend their season-high home winning streak to eight games on Tuesday night against the Marlins (69-69), who have lost six of their last seven games on the road.
At the bottom of the American League Central, Kansas City is 14 games under .500 at 62-76. However, the Royals won 12 of their final 14 games in August and five consecutive series.
“These past two weeks, we’ve played well and won a lot of games. They should be proud of that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “The resolve of these guys is good. We’ll be ready to play Tuesday.”
Kansas City has batted .320 with 10 home runs while averaging 6.7 runs during its seven-game winning streak at Kauffman Stadium.
Budding Royals star Jac Caglianone hit .411 with six homers and 26 RBIs in August. He’s 10-for-19 with six RBIs in the last four games.
“(August was) his best month, and he’s just growing at the big-league level,” Quatraro said of the 23-year-old. “It’s been fun to watch.”
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s scheduled Kansas City starter, Randy Dobnak (2-2, 1.92 ERA), remains a pleasant surprise and stabilizing presence for a rotation plagued by injuries in 2026. Since joining the rotation on July 18 after two relief appearances for the Royals, the right-hander has not allowed a run in four of his eight starts.
Last Wednesday, Dobnak yielded a three-run homer, five other hits, a walk and struck out five over six innings of a 3-0 loss at Toronto.
Dobnak has appeared in 49 games spanning six seasons since breaking into the majors with Minnesota in 2019, but this will be his first outing against the Marlins.
Miami, which is trying to stay in the wild-card race — the team is four games out of the final NL spot — opened a seven-game trip by losing three of four games at Washington. On Monday night, the Marlins held a three-run lead after four innings before falling 6-3.
They’ve failed to score more than three runs on four occasions during their current 2-5 stretch. The Marlins also are 6-17 on the road since July 17.
“Each game is kind of its own story,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We’re going to go to Kansas City, (and) it’s another important series. … Hopefully, get off to a good start in that series.”
Despite Miami’s recent struggles, Kyle Stowers had two hits with two RBIs on Monday. He’s batting .375 with eight RBIs and six walks over his last 10 contests.
For Miami’s Tyler Phillips (3-6, 3.59 ERA), who will start Tuesday’s game, all 15 of his 2026 starts have come over his last 17 appearances. In his most recent outing, the right-hander allowed only a solo homer, two other hits and three walks while striking out a career-high seven over 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision against Boston on Tuesday as Miami lost 7-3 in 11 innings.
This will be Phillips’ first start vs. the Royals, although he did throw a scoreless inning of relief against them last season.
–Field Level Media
