Series Preview: Marlins at Braves

The Miami Marlins will start a road trip with a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves beginning on Friday.

Miami is coming off a series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, but struggled mightily in the final game of the series. The Marlins fell to the Dodgers by a final score of 7-0 in Thursday's series finale. In that contest, the Marlins had trouble early and never recovered.

The Braves took three of four from the Marlins in Miami last weekend and remain one of the better teams in baseball. The Braves have a young lineup and a talented rotation to go along with it. Atlanta only has a strong bullpen thus far in 2018. For Miami to compete in this series, early leads may be a necessity.

Dan Straily will go for his second win of the season in Friday's series opener. Straily was originally scheduled to face the Dodgers, but had his start pushed back a day. Straily is 1-0 this season and Miami has won all three games that he has started.

Jose Urena will get the starting assignment for the middle game of the series. Urena is 0-6 this season and Miami has lost all nine of his starts. The right-hander has been unable to recapture the success he had in 2017. Urena has a 4.38 E.R.A and a few quality starts mixed in along the way.

Wei-Yin Chen will try and lower his 7.56 E.R.A in the series finale. Chen is 1-2 so far and he has allowed six home runs in four starts. Chen is coming off a decent performance against the Dodgers. Even though he came away with a no-decision, Chen gave Miami 4.1 scoreless innings of work. A high pitch count ended Chen's day earlier than the team had hoped.

Following Thursday's game, the Marlins made a couple of changes in the bullpen. Junichi Tazawa was designed for assignment, while Tyler Cloyd was optioned to AAA. Miami will have some fresh arms for the Atlanta series and it could need them. Caleb Smith had a short start on Thursday and Miami's bullpen has been taxed lately.