Two of the hotter teams in the National League will meet when the Arizona Diamondbacks host the Miami Marlins in the first contest of a three-game series Friday night in Phoenix.
Each team has won five of its past seven games and 10 of 15.
The Marlins have taken three of their past four series, capping that run with a 12-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants to complete a sweep Thursday.
“We’re playing our brand of baseball,” said Miami bench coach Carson Vitale, who took over after manager Clayton McCullough was ejected in the first inning of the finale against the Giants. “Guys know their roles. Everybody shows up every day ready to do their job. We’re going to play hard.”
The Diamondbacks have won four of their past five series, but their recent stretch comes with a large asterisk. They lost three more players to injury on a 5-4 road trip to Toronto, Colorado and the Chicago White Sox that concluded with a 7-3 loss Wednesday to Chicago.
“We’ve taken on a lot of water, and the ship is not sinking,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “The ship is still sailing, and they’re responsible for that. I’ve just got to keep it on its course and create a vision that we’re going to find our way out of this. The guys believe that.”
Arizona’s Merrill Kelly (7-3, 3.39 ERA) is scheduled to oppose fellow right-hander Eury Perez (0-2, 6.17) on Friday.
Diamondbacks regulars Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno and reserve Ildemaro Vargas were placed on the injured list during the trip. The team already was without No. 1 starter Corbin Burnes and co-closers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk, all lost to season-ending Tommy John surgeries.
Carroll suffered a chip fracture in his left wrist when he was hit by a pitch in the second game of the road trip in Toronto on June 18, the day Moreno was placed on the injured list with a hairline fracture in his right index finger. Vargas suffered a fractured right foot when he was hit by a pitch Tuesday against the White Sox.
“I have not seen anything like this,” Lovullo said. “Usually you have a bad week, or a bad month, or two guys in a 30-day period of time that will go down. But it’s just been one after another. It’s frustrating. I feel for the players. I feel for this team.”
Miami has scored at least four runs in six of its past nine games, led by shortstop Otto Lopez. He enters Friday with a seven-game hitting streak, during which he is 12-for-27 with seven RBIs. He had six hits and five RBIs in the series against the Giants.
Agustin Ramirez and Kyle Stowers hit their 12th homers of the season on Thursday, and Ramirez had six hits and three RBIs against the Giants.
Perez will make his fourth start this season as he comes back from Tommy John surgery that cost him the 2024 season. He has been on a pitch limit and has not gotten through five innings yet.
“Continue to build up with each outing and just working on some of the pitches,” said Perez, who has never faced the Diamondbacks. “Feeling better with each start.”
Kelly has been Arizona’s most effective pitcher. He is 6-2 with a 2.68 ERA in his last 14 starts.
In his career, he is 1-2 with a 5.52 ERA in five outings against Miami, his win coming when he limited them to one run in six innings of a 10-4 victory April 15.
–Field Level Media
