Jake Burger and Jesus Sanchez will attempt to continue their power surges on Wednesday as the visiting Miami Marlins vie for a two-game series sweep of the free-falling Philadelphia Phillies.
Burger homered in his fourth straight game and Sanchez went deep for the second consecutive contest in Miami’s 5-0 victory on Tuesday.
The cellar-dwelling Marlins evened their season series against the National League East-leading Phillies at four wins apiece.
Philadelphia has lost four in a row and 11 of its past 15 games. The shutout loss was the team’s first at home in exactly one year, much to the chagrin of the Citizens Bank Park faithful.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson addressed the notion of a team meeting as a way to get his charges on the same page.
“Is it time to do it? It depends on a lot of things,” Thomson said. “It depends on the attitude and where I think the guys’ minds are at. I think overall they’re very solid right now. Frustrated because they know we’re better than that.”
Philadelphia slugger Kyle Schwarber appeared to back his manager’s words on the heels of his team’s four-hit performance in the series opener.
“It’s not worry. Frustration,” Schwarber said. “I think worry is the wrong kind of word. If you’re worried about where you’re at, it’s not a good thing to be.”
Burger is far from frustrated for the Marlins.
He went deep to lead off the third inning, his team-leading 23rd homer of the season and 13th since the All-Star break. He is 30-for-91 (.330) with 19 RBIs in 24 games after the break.
Xavier Edwards, who went 2-for-5 with a run on Tuesday, is 33-for-91 (.363) with 10 RBIs in 24 games since the break.
Miami right-hander Edward Cabrera (2-3, 5.20 ERA) will look to extend his scoreless-innings streak when he takes the mound on Wednesday.
Cabrera has tossed 12 consecutive shutout innings over two starts this month. He scattered four hits over a season-high seven frames in a no-decision against the San Diego Padres on Friday.
“We’re at (the point) in the season (of) trying to figure out what guys are made of and who they are and their opportunity,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “This was the opportunity for him, and hopefully it provides some confidence, because it’s not physical.
“It’s never physical with him. And so hopefully this just proves that he’s good enough to do that, and that should be his goal every single outing is six and seven innings, because he has the stuff to do it.”
Cabrera, 26, is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in four career starts against the Phillies.
Philadelphia will turn to right-hander Tyler Phillips (4-1, 4.83 ERA) in a bid to stem the skid.
Phillips bounced back from a horrible start to pick up the win in his latest outing. He allowed four runs on six hits in five innings in a 9-4 victory over the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 7.
Phillips, 26, has yet to face the Marlins in his young career.
–Field Level Media