The Miami Marlins will turn back time and host the Arizona Diamondbacks for Throwback Weekend at Marlins Park starting Friday.
The Marlins will be honoring the 1997 World Series championship team with their look over the weekend. Miami will wear a jersey vest over a black undershirt and will top it off with the black Florida Marlins hat. The jersey vest will have the teal wordmark made famous by the 1997 club.
Throwback Weekend has become an annual tradition under Miami's current ownership group and the team is already polling fans for opinions on 2020's look. The options for 2020 include a teal jersey, a black jersey, another jersey vest look and a traditional teal pinstripe jersey. Fans can vote in the poll at Marlins.com.
Miami will bring a two-game win streak into the series with Arizona. The Marlins remain in last place in the National League East with a 38-62 record. Arizona is sitting in second place in the National League West, but it will likely need to rely on the Wild-Card to reach the playoffs.
All-Star Sandy Alcantara has been struggling lately and will be back on the mound on Friday. Alcantara has allowed ten runs over the last 11 innings and has seen his E.R.A rise to 4.25. The right-hander is 4-9 and the Marlins are 6-13 in his starts this year. Alcantara has never faced the Diamondbacks in his career.
Jordan Yamamoto had a rough outing his last time out and will look to turn that around on Saturday. Yamamoto allowed five runs in four innings and was charged with the first loss of his big-league career. The 23-year old is 4-1 with a 2.61 E.R.A. through seven starts thus far.
Miami has lost the last eight games Trevor Richards has started and he will be back on the mound on Sunday. Richards allowed seven runs in five innings in his last outing and his E.R.A rose to 4.62. The right-hander is 3-12 on the season and he has been consistently inefficient. Richards has only lasted five innings in each of his last five starts, which has forced Miami's bullpen to put in extra work.
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Caleb Smith will be Miami's starter in the series finale on Monday. Smith is 6-4 with a 3.30 E.R.A. and he looked like an ace his last time out. The lefty allowed one run on two hits in seven strong innings of work against the Chicago White Sox. Smith has struck out 16 hitters over his last 12 innings and he has piled up 110 punchouts in 2019.
Garrett Cooper has been slumping recently, with only four hits in his last 23 at-bats. Cooper's batting average has fallen to .299, due to his recent struggles and he has only three home runs over the last month. Cooper has been a big part of Miami's lineup all season long and the team will need him to find his stroke again soon.
Brian Anderson leads Miami with his .242 average, but he has also been slumping recently. Anderson put together a .174 batting average over the past week and he has only two home runs in the month of July. Anderson's 13 home runs still lead Miami, with Cooper and Jorge Alfaro sitting behind him at 11 homers each.
The four-game series will get underway on Friday at 7:10 p.m.
