Marlins Head Out West Hoping To Bounce Back From Philly Sweep
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PHOENIX (CBSMiami/AP) – The Miami Marlins went into the All-Star break on a nice little hot streak after taking three of four from the Cincinnati Reds.
Then they went to Philadelphia for a series against the worst team in baseball to open the second half of the season. That didn't go so well, as Miami was swept.
If he had received a little more run support, Rubby De La Rosa might have registered his first complete game in May as part of the Arizona Diamondbacks' four-game sweep of the Marlins.
De La Rosa hasn't gotten anywhere close to recording that milestone in his recent starts, and his latest effort is part of Arizona's season-worst skid.
The Diamondbacks will try to snap that in Monday night's rematch with the Marlins, losers in seven straight on the road.
De La Rosa went nine innings and gave up two runs in the series opener in Miami on May 18 - his only other start against the Marlins - but the Diamondbacks (42-48) needed 13 innings for a 3-2 win. The right-hander hasn't gotten past the sixth inning in any of his last three starts and didn't make it out of the fourth in a 5-3 loss to the New York Mets on July 12.
De La Rosa (6-5, 5.06 ERA) gave up four runs - on a career-high three homers - and 12 of the 13 runs he's yielded in his past four games (21 1-3 innings) have been scored via seven longballs. He's given up 21 in 18 games this season, surpassing his total from his first 44 major league appearances, and the two runs he allowed in Miami were on a J.T. Realmuto homer.
"For us to be successful, Rubby has to be one of our best pitchers, so he's got to get the ball down," manager Chip Hale said.
Arizona's starters have a 7.76 ERA in the six-game skid, but Patrick Corbin was effective Sunday against San Francisco, allowing two runs in five innings. The Diamondbacks' hitters, though, went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position in a 2-1 loss.
They'll face a Marlins staff that's posted a 2.74 ERA in the last 11 games with its starters registering a 3.30 mark. Miami (38-54) has given up 13 unearned runs in that stretch, committing 10 errors, and has lost eight of 11.
The Marlins had an error-free series finale in Philadelphia on Sunday but lost 8-7 when A.J. Ramos gave up a two-run homer in the ninth. Ramos had converted 14 of his prior 15 save opportunities after taking over as closer in May and seven in a row.
"Now it's up to us to have our pride and do what we have to do, that's take care of our business," manager Dan Jennings said after his team's 14th loss in 16 road games. "It would have been easy to fold after losing the first two here, but (our players) showed fight and showed heart. We fully expect that the remainder of this road trip."
In his second start since returning to the rotation, David Phelps (4-5, 3.86) will try to keep Miami from its longest road losing streak since a 10-gamer May 11-June 5, 2013. The right-hander, who took over for a demoted Jarred Cosart, allowed his only run on a solo homer over six innings against Cincinnati on July 10 but was handed a 1-0 defeat.
Phelps gave up four runs in five innings in his only start against Arizona, a 6-1 loss May 20.
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