The Miami Marlins and the Cincinnati Reds wrap up their four-game series in Cincinnati on Thursday afternoon. The Marlins are entrenched in 4th place in the NL East but under a half dozen games behind the 3rd place Phillies. As for Cincinnati, the Reds continue their season long improvement and are suddenly well within range of Pittsburgh for 4th place in the NL Central Division. The pitching matchup for Thursday's finale will feature Reds righty Graham Ashcraft (4-2, 4.70) while the Marlins have yet to name a starter. It could be righty Edward Cabrera who has not pitched in the majors since June 12th due to injury. First pitch is scheduled for 1235pm EST.
The Miami Marlins offense has slowly started to regroup a momentous 34-inning scoreless streak last week. During the stretch, Miami lost five out of six games and scored a grand total of one run in the five losses. Heading into Wednesday night's game in Cincinnati, the Marlins have averaged just 3.3 runs per game since that horrid streak. The Marlins are just 4-6 in the ten games after Tuesday night's 2-1 win over the Reds in which starter Pablo Lopez allowed just two hits and set a career high with 11 strikeouts. On Wednesday night, the Marlins went quietly again, losing 5-3 and never recovering from four first inning runs from the Reds.
Congrats Pablo for a reaching a single season career high in strikeouts!!!#MakeItMiami // @budweiserusa pic.twitter.com/4SiZmQF7n3
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) July 27, 2022
The Marlins offense will need to heat up if the team wants to remain competitive going forward. Miami ranks 25th in runs per game this season, 21st in home runs per game and 25th in slugging percentage. Miami is hitting just .227 in their last ten games and averaging 2.2 runs per game. On the mound on Thursday afternoon could very well be Edward Cabrera. Cabrera has been out since June 12th with an elbow injury but threw three scoreless innings and struck out seven in a Double A rehab start just five days ago. The Marlins have been cautious with the young right-hander but he would fill a void in the rotation on Thursday afternoon.