Marlins aim to stay hot against Brewers
While Washington, New York and even Philadelphia continue to dominate the NL East headlines, Miami looks like anything but your ordinary fourth-place team.
Don Mattingly’s surging group targets its 10th win in 11 contests tonight, with a 7:10 p.m. ET first pitch vs. visiting Arizona. Oddsmakers at online sports book Bovada.lv list the Marlins as 1.5-run favorites to sweep the series. The over/under total rests at eight runs.
In his first outing since tossing 7 2/3 no-hit innings against Milwaukee last week, Adam Conley (1-1, 3.67) aspires to hand the Diamondbacks their sixth consecutive loss. The lefty was removed from that 6-3 triumph at Miller Park due to a high pitch count and control issues. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds in a meeting with the NL West’s current basement tenants.
Arizona (12-17) has batted .232 while averaging 2.6 runs during a 1-7 stretch. Even perennial MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt carries a .192 mark in the past nine games. One bright spot: Jean Segura (.339) should return to the lineup after missing three straight starts with hip discomfort.
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That same optimism doesn’t translate to the mound. Robbie Ray is 0-1 with a 12.86 ERA over his last two assignments. He yielded five runs and seven hits – including four homers – in Friday’s 9-0 home defeat to division rival Colorado.
Giancarlo Stanton undoubtedly knows these things. Since April 26, Miami’s pre-eminent masher boasts a .375 average with six bombs and 12 RBIs. He’ll lead the offensive parade on this occasion, too, as the Marlins (14-12) keep climbing up the standings.
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