The Miami Marlins will try to win their fourth straight series on Sunday afternoon when they face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the rubber match of their three-game series in Phoenix.
The Marlins will turn to left-hander Ryan Weathers (2-4, 3.49 ERA), who is 0-1 with a 5.14 ERA in six career appearances (three starts) against the Diamondbacks.
Weathers will try to build on his last two starts overall, a pair of no-decisions vs. Milwaukee (Monday) and Detroit (May 14). He threw a combined 15 innings in those contests and allowed just one earned run on five hits with three walks and 12 strikeouts.
Arizona, which evened the series with a 3-2 victory on Saturday night, will counter with Blake Walston (0-0, 4.91 ERA). The 6-foot-5 left-hander will make his first major league start.
It will be just the second big league appearance for Walston, who pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief in an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on May 1. He allowed two earned runs on three hits and four walks while striking out five.
Walston was a first-round pick (No. 26 overall) for the Diamondbacks in the 2019 MLB Draft out of New Hanover High School in Wilmington, N.C. He is 3-1 with a 4.54 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 35 2/3 innings in eight games (seven starts) with Triple-A Reno in the Pacific Coast League.
Arizona bounced back from a four-hit performance in a 3-0 loss in Friday’s series opener to even the series on Saturday night.
Christian Walker went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run and Eugenio Suarez added two hits and scored a run for Arizona, which won despite being outhit 11-5. Jordan Montgomery picked up the victory after allowing two runs on nine hits over six innings, and Paul Sewald recorded his fourth save after retiring the side in the ninth.
Despite the win, the reigning National League champions still find themselves two games below .500. After Sunday’s contest, they will embark on another challenging road trip that begins with a two-game World Series rematch at Texas followed by four games in New York against the Mets.
“And another day off before the road trip too,” Walker said.
Arizona is just 1-6 following a day off this season, including Friday’s loss in the series opener with the Marlins.
“You’d like to hit (the road trip) with a little momentum going into Texas and New York,” Walker said. “We’ve been on the road a lot lately. To get this series win at home, it means a lot for sure.”
Miami, which will head to San Diego for a three-game series with the Padres after Sunday’s finale, got a solid start from Sixto Sanchez in Saturday’s loss. Sanchez overcame a sluggish start to allow three runs on five hits in five innings.
“Tough environment, tough team,” Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. “Five innings, three runs, kept us in the game. Gave it to our bullpen. I thought it was a really good outing for Sixto and something we can move forward with in a positive way.”
–Field Level Media