This Tuesday the (63-90) Miami Marlins and the (97-57) New York Mets will play game one of this short two-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 7:10 PM EST inside Citi Field. The last time these two teams matched up, the Mets ended up stealing two of three games.
The Miami Marlins are coming into this one after winning their previous series against the Washington Nationals. The Marlins looked incredible on the mound, as they only surrendered three combined runs in their two wins. They will need to stay consistent on the mound if they want to challenge the Mets on the road.
The New York Mets are entering this one after winning their previous series against the Oakland Athletics. New York showed up at the dish in game one and game three, as they scored 22 combined runs in their wins. They will need their bats to stay hot if they want to defend Citi Field in this one.
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This game was written/published before last night's results.
The Miami Marlins are currently 5-5 in their last 1o games played, but they are still 20.5 games back from the third and final NL Wild Card spot. Miami will most likely miss the postseason this year, as they are also stuck in fourth place in the AL East. They trail the first-place New York Mets by 33.5 games.
At the plate, the Marlins are scoring 3.64 runs per game and they are hitting .230 as a team. This is the third least amount of runs scored per game and the 25th highest overall team batting average, as the Marlins have struggled to consistently make contact with the ball all season. This has made it much more difficult to score, as they have also struggled to drive in men when they are in scoring position. The Marlins have realized that they don't have a ton of power inside of their lineup. They are only hitting .90 bombs per game, which is the 24th most. The Marlins will stay aggressive once they have reach ed base safely, as well. They have already taken 117 bases this season, which is the second most in the league.
According to MLB.com, the Marlins will be starting Pablo Lopez on the mound in this one. He is currently 9-10 with a 3.88 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. In his last start, he pitched for 6.2 innings and gave up one earned run to the Cubs. He has struggled on the road this season, though. Lopez is currently 5-5 with a 3.15 ERA playing away from his home ballpark. The Miami bullpen is also allowing 4.16 runs per game, which is the 21st highest ERA in the league. As a team, the Marlins are allowing the 13th most runs per game.