Series Preview: Marlins at Phillies

The Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies will start a weekend series at Citizens Bank Park on Friday.

The Marlins are coming off two consecutive 11-inning games and their bullpen will be hoping for some rest. Miami was forced to use almost the entire pen in each of those two contests against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Marlins and Cardinals ended up splitting that four-game series at Busch Stadium.

Miami used some fresh names in the series with St. Louis and the revamped starting rotation will see more work in these games. The Marlins are 27-46 on the year, while the Phillies have a record of 39-35. The Phillies have dominated the season series with the Marlins thus far in 2019.

Sandy Alcantara will start for the Marlins on Friday and it will be his second appearance against the Phillies this season. Alcantara gave up six runs on 11 hits in only five innings of work against Philadelphia in April. That outing was the right-hander's worst of the season and it came at Marlins Park. Philadelphia's home park is a paradise for hitters and Alcantara will need to be in his best form on Friday evening.

Miami's starter on Saturday afternoon will be Elieser Hernandez. The 24-year old will be making his third start of the season and the outing will be his third career appearance against Philadelphia. Hernandez was a reliever in his previous outings against the Phillies and he registered a 5.40 E.R.A in 1.2 innings.

Jordan Yamamoto's career is off to a historic start and his next opportunity will come on Sunday. Yamamoto has allowed no runs in his 14 big-league innings and he has been credited with a win in both outings. The 23-year old made both of those starts against the Cardinals and will be facing a tougher test in this one. While St. Louis has a formidable roster, Philadelphia has one of the best everyday lineups in all of baseball.

Garrett Cooper's status for the series is unknown, after he was forced to exit Thursday's contest early. Cooper is battling left triceps tightness and Miami's lineup is missing his bat. Before injuring himself in Tuesday's game, Cooper was on a tear in June. The 28-year old is hitting .393 with three home runs thus far this month.