Anyone planning to watch the host Miami Marlins play the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon in the series finale might want to block out some extra time.
The first two games in the set each went extra innings.
St. Louis beat Miami 7-6 in 12 innings on Monday.
Miami beat St. Louis 9-8 in 10 innings on Tuesday.
The Cardinals will be looking to win their third straight series on Wednesday. They took two of three against both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs, and they will get the chance to do the same thing on Wednesday with right-hander Kyle Gibson (5-2, 3.44 ERA) on the mound.
Gibson, 36, has made nine career starts against the Marlins, going 2-4 with a 5.68 ERA. In Miami, he is 2-2 with a 5.73 ERA in four starts.
This year, though, Gibson is 3-1 with a 2.68 ERA in seven road starts. He is also having his best month of the season, as he is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA through three starts in June.
The Marlins will promote Yonny Chirinos from Triple-A Jacksonville to start the series finale in his first major league outing of the year.
Miami gave Chirinos a minor league contract in February, and he is 6-4 with a 3.00 ERA through 12 starts for Jacksonville. In his most recent outing, he tossed five scoreless innings of one-hit ball during a victory over Indianapolis on June 12.
Chirinos, a 30-year-old right-hander, split last season between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves, going 5-5 with a 5.40 ERA in 20 games (nine starts). He has never faced the Cardinals in his career.
He will be joining a Miami club that has seen its offense awaken during the series, scoring 15 runs in two games. In the previous eight games, the Marlins scored a total of just 15 runs.
One of Miami’s hottest hitters is outfielder Jesus Sanchez, who has a single, two doubles and a home run in the series. He went 3-for-5 on Tuesday, including a three-run homer that had a 110 mph exit velocity.
“He’s been getting some hard hits,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of Sanchez. “Even his outs have been hard. He’s locked in.”
Sanchez is only lacking consistency, according to the manager.
“If he can get that, he will be really good,” Schumaker said. “Nobody hits the ball as hard as him other than (Giancarlo) Stanton, (Aaron) Judge and those guys. (Sanchez) is in that club.”
Schumaker also praised Marlins center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr., who leads Miami in OPS (.779).
Chisholm made a big play on the basepaths on Tuesday, going from first to third on a sixth-inning single to left field before scoring the tying run on a sacrifice fly. He leads Miami in steals (13) and ranks second in homers (10).
“That’s why he’s special,” Schumaker said of Chisholm taking the extra base. “He doesn’t have to hit homers. He can impact the game in so many ways.”
Meanwhile, the Cardinals’ offense has impressed during the series, also netting 15 runs.
“We were able to score some runs,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after the Tuesday loss, “but, unfortunately, it was not enough.”
On Wednesday, St. Louis should have Nolan Arenado back in the lineup after the third baseman was rested on Tuesday.
In addition, shortstop Masyn Winn — who won the game Monday with a two-run homer in the 12th — sat out on Tuesday due to an illness. His status for Wednesday was uncertain.
The Cardinals want more of the power they showed on Tuesday, when Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Paul Goldschmidt all homered. Those were the top three hitters in the St. Louis lineup with regular leadoff hitter Winn unavailable.
–Field Level Media
