The struggling Miami Marlins hit another bump in the road Friday morning when left-hander Jesus Luzardo was scratched from his scheduled start against the visiting Washington Nationals.
The team said Luzardo experienced elbow discomfort on Thursday and is undergoing further testing.
Miami, which has lost three straight and six of its past eight games, will instead open the four-game series with reliever Anthony Maldonado on the mound as the opener.
The 26-year-old right-hander was called up from Triple-A to make his major league debut after going 3-0 with a 2.31 ERA and two saves in eight relief appearances at Jacksonville.
Luzardo made seven appearances in spring training and posted a 1.50 ERA with one save.
As for the Marlins as a whole, Friday marks the start of a seven-game homestand against a pair of teams with losing records — Washington and the Colorado Rockies.
Then again, no team in the National League has lost as many games as the Marlins — 20 — or as low of a batting average (.216).
Miami’s offense — no shock — is led by second baseman Luis Arraez, who won the American League batting title with the Minnesota Twins in 2022 and captured the National League batting crown last year. After a slow start, he is hitting .299 following a 3-for-5 effort in the series finale at Atlanta on Wednesday.
The Braves won that contest 4-3 in 10 innings to complete a three-game sweep.
“That’s a tough loss,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “We had chances all night with runners in scoring position. We just couldn’t get that big hit.”
Surprisingly for the Marlins, outfielder Bryan De La Cruz leads the squad in homers (five) and OPS (.725). His career high in homers is 19, which he hit last year in his third season in the majors.
While the Marlins were idle on Thursday, the Nationals were losing at home 2-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept the three-game series.
The Nationals scored just four runs in the series, going 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position.
“We’re struggling offensively as a whole,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We can’t put anything together.”
Washington is set to start veteran right-hander Trevor Williams (2-0, 2.91) on Friday.
Williams, who turned 32 on Thursday, is 1-4 with a 5.26 ERA in 13 career games against the Marlins, including eight starts.
The Marlins pounded Williams last year as the veteran went 0-3 with a 7.59 ERA in four starts vs. Miami.
This season, though, the Nationals are 3-1 with Williams on the mound. In his most recent outing, on Saturday against the Houston Astros, Williams logged his first official quality start of the year, allowing just three hits, no walks and one run in six innings. He retired the final 13 batters he faced.
Unfortunately for the Nationals, their entire starting outfield is on the injured list: Victor Robles (strained left hamstring), Stone Garrett (broken left leg) and Lane Thomas (sprained left knee).
In addition, third baseman Nick Senzel was scratched from the lineup on Thursday due a stomach virus.
Washington did get catcher Keibert Ruiz back from the injured list on Thursday, and he went 0-for-4 against the Dodgers. The team cleared a roster spot for Ruiz’s return by optioning catcher Drew Millas to Triple-A Rochester.
–Field Level Media
