Miami

Series Preview: Braves at Marlins

The Marlins and Braves will wrap up their season series with four games at Marlins Park

The Miami Marlins will host the Atlanta Braves for a four-game series at Marlins Park beginning on Thursday.

The Marlins and Braves had a bench-clearing incident a week ago in Atlanta, when Jose Urena hit Ronald Acuna Jr. with a pitch to begin a game. Urena ended up suspended by Major League Baseball and is currently unavailable.

The Braves are currently in first place in the division, while Miami remains in last. After splitting a two-game series against the New York Yankees, the Marlins will have another chance to play a spoiler role in this series. The Braves are battling the Philadelphia Phillies for the division title and every win at this point could be the difference.

Due to Urena's suspension, Miami will turn to Elieser Hernandez in the series opener. Hernandez has started five games this season, but he has been in Miami's bullpen for quite awhile. Due to his limited workload, Hernandez will likely not be able to go long in this outing. Miami's bullpen figures to see plenty of innings on Thursday, with Brett Graves possibly being a long relief option.

Dan Straily will start Friday's game and it will be his fourth time facing Atlanta this season. Straily is 2-1 with a 4.02 E.R.A against the Braves in 2018 and is coming off a rough outing at SunTrust Park. Straily allowed eight runs in only 3.2 innings in July at Atlanta's home park.

Wei-Yin Chen will look to continue his strong season at home in Saturday's start. Chen has posted Cy Young-caliber numbers at home, where he's held opposing hitters to a .194 batting average. Chen has had a very successful August, in what has easily been his best month of 2018 thus far.

Pablo Lopez had a very strong outing against the Yankees on Tuesday, but came away with a no-decision. Lopez allowed only one run in six innings, against one of the league's better teams. Lopez has not won a game since July 21st, but the rookie has pitched well enough to earn more victories. Lopez is 2-3 with a 4.42 E.R.A in his rookie season.

Miami's series with Atlanta will get underway on Thursday at 7:10 p.m.

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