While the Baltimore Orioles are trying to finish with the best record in the American League, the Miami Marlins are attempting to make life as tough as possible for contenders over the final two-plus months of the season.
The teams will collide on Tuesday night when Baltimore opens a three-game series with host Miami.
The Orioles come into town after taking two of three games from the Texas Rangers over the weekend, then having a day off on Monday.
In the Texas series, Baltimore picked up a pair of decisive victories before falling 3-2 on Sunday. Jonah Heim needed just one pitch to provide the Rangers with all the runs they would need, smacking a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
With the Orioles looking to bounce back, right-hander Albert Suarez (5-3, 2.82 ERA) will make his 20th appearance (13th start) of the season.
Suarez hasn’t pitched since the All-Star break, most recently taking a loss against the Chicago Cubs on July 11 after giving up four runs on six hits in five innings. That setback snapped a two-start winning streak for Suarez.
Tuesday marks Suarez’s second career appearance and first career start against Miami. He surrendered three runs and four hits in three innings of relief against the Marlins back on Aug. 16, 2017, when he was with the San Francisco Giants.
Suarez was out of the majors from 2018-23, but he has quickly helped a Baltimore rotation that lost three potential postseason starters — Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells — to Tommy John surgery.
However, the Orioles still sit atop the AL East thanks to a relentless offense that leads the big leagues with 157 homers. Anthony Santander started the second half of the season strong, going deep three times in Texas to give him 27 home runs on the year.
“It’s been fun to watch that guy continue to progress throughout the season,” Baltimore co-hitting coach Matt Borgschulte said of Santander. “One of the things that he does so well is just that his preparation is amazing.”
The Orioles could take advantage of how Miami went about its four-game series split with the New York Mets, which ended with the Marlins’ 6-4 loss on Monday night. While Miami’s bullpen pitched brilliantly throughout the series, it also had to cover 16 2/3 innings, as no starting pitcher lasted more than five innings.
And the Marlins haven’t named a starter for Tuesday, meaning Miami could resort to a bullpen game, putting even more stress on its relievers.
Still, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker isn’t looking for excuses, even with the team 30 games under .500 and sporting the worst record in the National League (35-65).
“We want to compete as hard as we can every single day until the last out,” Schumaker said. “We have a job to do and we want to win every single game we play. The starting pitching has to get a little deeper so we don’t keep abusing (the bullpen).”
A little more offense might help, too. The Marlins have the fewest homers in the majors (83), although Josh Bell has shown signs of finding his power stroke.
Bell went 1-for-3 with a homer on Monday, and Schumaker said he went to loanDepot Park every day during the All-Star break, even enlisting his dad to help with his swing.
“We’re getting closer to the Josh Bell we had parts of this year and last year after we got him,” Schumaker said.
–Field Level Media