HEADLINE

Phillies look to feast on more Marlins this weekend

Field Level Media

April 13, 2019 at 7:42 am.

The Miami Marlins are slump-busters — for the opposing team.

Earlier this week, the Cincinnati Reds were on an eight-game losing streak until they were visited by the Marlins. That losing skid quickly became a three-game winning streak as the Reds swept the Marlins.

The Philadelphia Phillies, who routed the Marlins 9-1 on Friday and play at Miami again on Saturday, are hoping that trend continues at least through this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Marlins have lost five straight games and have scored just two runs in their past four games.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly, trying exceptionally hard to find some positives, said he thinks a turnaround could be close at hand for his hitters.

“The last four games — we’re not going to get any of those at-bats back,” Mattingly told the media Friday. “But the effort and the quality of the at-bats (Friday night), if we keep that up, we’ll get going.”

Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature Marlins left-hander Caleb Smith (0-0, 4.09 ERA) against Phillies right-hander Zach Eflin (2-0, 0.75).

Eflin gave up just one run in seven innings this past Sunday in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Twins. He gave up a leadoff homer but then dominated, striking out five and walking none among his 105 total pitches. The other five hits he allowed were all singles.

“I didn’t have my best slider,” Eflin said. “But my sinker and changeup were working.”

The slider is Eflin’s main secondary pitch, complementing his mid-90s fastball. If he can regain his touch on the slider, that should make him even better.

Another issue for Eflin has been slow starts. Last season, he had a 5.43 ERA in his first three innings but just 3.02 in the following frames.

Like most pitchers, Eflin has been better at home (10-8, 4.22 ERA for his career) as opposed to the road (7-10, 5.59).

In four career starts against the Marlins, he is 2-1 with a 4.26 ERA. But in two starts at Marlins Park, he is 0-1 with a 6.55 ERA.

Meanwhile, Smith — who was “discovered” by the New York Yankees in 2013 as a lightly regarded 14th-round pick out of Sam Houston State — will be making his 21st career start. Smith, 27, broke into the majors in 2017 and is 5-7 with a 4.79 in 27 career appearances.

He faced the Phillies just once, walking six batters and allowing three runs in three innings of a forgettable start on April 5, 2018.

Now, a little more than a year later, Smith gets a chance to atone. While not well known to many fans, Smith is capable of putting up some big some impressive stats. He struck out 10.2 batters per nine innings during his 16 starts last season, for example.

In two starts this year, Smith has been even better, striking out 12.3 batters per nine.

It will be interesting to see how Smith handles Phillies sluggers such as Bryce Harper (1.366 OPS), Rhys Hoskins (1.380 OPS) and Andrew McCutchen (1.069 OPS).

“For the most part, we’ve gotten pretty good pitching this season,” Mattingly said. “We’ve just had some struggles offensively. That’s going to change.”

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