These teams met for the first time this year on Monday night, with the Colorado Rockies (20-28) taking the game 5-3 in front of their home fans. The Miami Marlins (24-24) were the unfortunate victims, as the loss sent them back down to .500. Following Tuesday night's game two, this will be the third part of the four-game set. Both clubs have some work to do in the standings, so a win might go a long way. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:40 p.m. EDT in Denver's Coors Field.
Did anyone order a Diaz dinger? pic.twitter.com/jDwiocFYII
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 23, 2023
The Miami Marlins began their 10-game road trip with a 1-3 record, a horrid start for a potentially season-defining stretch. Offensively, the team was putting up 3.0 runs per game during that stretch, lower than their MLB-worst runs per game mark this season. Even with MLB's OBP leader, Luis Arraez (and his league-leading .383 batting average), Miami is 25th as a team in OBP. Even with Jorge Soler's 12 home runs (tied for 12th before Tuesday's games), the Marlins are 24th in homers launched. Miami has offensive talent, but there's not much cohesion. If there's one area to highlight it's their base stealing, as they were sixth with 40 successful swipes in 50 tries before Tuesday's game.
Then there's 2022 NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who is more representative of Willie Blair in the 90s right now. His 5.05 ERA would represent a career-worst season if it holds, as he's already a llowed more than half of the runs than he did in all of 2022. Alcantara has regressed in nearly every way, and instead of being a guaranteed win for the Marlins, his games are becoming Miami losses. With a mediocre bullpen behind him, Miami doesn't stand much of a chance when he's not pitching as well as he did last season.