A pair of National League teams on the outside looking in for the playoff picture continue an early week series on the diamond in the Buckeye State. The Miami Marlins are on the road as they play the third game of a four-game series with the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday night. In the opening game of the series on Monday night, the Reds got their bats going and pounded their way to an 11-2 victory to draw first blood in the set. Which way are we leaning in this matchup as the series continues? This article was published prior to the conclusion of the second game of the series at the Great American Ball Park Tuesday night.
Miami was clobbered in the opening game of this series to fall for the sixth time in their last eight games. The Marlins entered Tuesday night fourth in the NL East, 14 games behind the Mets for the top spot in the division race. They stood 5.5 games behind the Cardinals for the final wild card spot in the National League. On Monday night, Miami finished with seven hits with no player recording more than one in the contest. JJ Bleday had the lone extra-base hit for the team, a double, and the Marlins were one for seven with runners in scoring position in the contest. Trevor Rogers (4-10) turned in another lousy start as he took the loss after giving up six runs on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings of work.
Braxton Garrett takes the mound for his 10th start of the season for the Marlins in this contest. He comes in 2-3 with a 3.42 ERA, a 1.141 WHIP, 11 walks an d 47 strikeouts over 47.1 innings of work this season. Garrett earned the win in his last start, which came Friday on the road over the Pirates. He threw six innings, allowing one run on two hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in an 8-1 Marlins victory. In his last three starts, Garrett is 1-0 with a 1.04 ERA, a 0.62 WHIP, four walks and 21 strikeouts over 17.2 innings of work. This marks his first career start against the Reds in his 20th major league outing and 19th career start. That means Garrett pitches at the Great American Ball Park for the first time in his career in this contest as well.