Two right-handers trying to get on track — Elieser Hernandez and Brandon Woodruff — will take the mound on Sunday afternoon as the Milwaukee Brewers and the host Miami Marlins close a three-game series.
The series is tied at one game each after the Marlins defeated the Brewers 9-3 on Saturday night.
Miami’s Hernandez (2-2, 6.37 ERA) has faced Milwaukee twice in his career, including one start. He is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA in those two appearances.
Coincidentally, Milwaukee’s Woodruff (3-2, 5.97 ERA) had identical numbers against Miami (1-0, 3.86).
The Marlins are 3-3 with Hernandez on the mound.
In 43 career games at home, Hernandez has a 3.89 ERA. In contrast, he has a 6.01 ERA in 33 road games.
However, Hernandez has only lasted longer than 5 1/3 innings once this season.
If Hernandez goes relatively short again, the Marlins could turn to Cody Poteet, 27. Poteet made his MLB debut last year with a 4.99 ERA in seven starts.
This year, strictly as a reliever, Poteet has a 0.55 ERA in eight outings, covering 16 1/3 innings.
“Cody’s been great,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He’s been able to come in and throw zeroes.”
The Brewers are 4-2 with Woodruff on the mound. He had a string of 12 straight scoreless innings snapped on April 26.
But in his most recent 10 innings, he has been charged with 13 runs, including 12 earned.
It’s a puzzling reversal of fortunes for Woodruff, who went 9-10 last year with a 2.56 ERA, finishing fifth in the National League in the Cy Young voting.
A two-time All-Star, Woodruff, 29, held opponents to a .200 batting average last year. This year, opponents are hitting .261 against him.
“I’ve had the bug of allowing big innings this year,” Woodruff said. “My two-seam fastball has been a little too flat. I need to get better at some stuff.”
If Woodruff has a short outing on Sunday, the Brewers won’t be able to bring in lefty Brent Suter (1-0, 4.09 ERA). He went on paternity leave on Saturday.
As for the offenses, Miami placed third baseman Joey Wendle on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right hamstring.
The good news for the Marlins is that right fielder Avisail Garcia is back. He left Friday’s series opener due to a stomach illness. But he returned on Saturday, and he went 2-for-5 with a stolen base.
Miami’s bats came alive on Saturday as Jesus Aguilar, Jorge Soler and Brian Anderson all homered in the fourth inning. Aguilar, Anderson and Miguel Rojas had two RBIs each.
“Guys are heating up,” Mattingly said after Saturday’s game. “(The offense) is looking good.”
Milwaukee’s offense on Saturday was limited to Willy Adames’ solo homer and Hunter Renfroe’s two-run blast.
Adames and Renfroe are tied for the team lead with nine homers. Rowdy Tellez tops the club with 27 RBIs, and Christian Yelich is No. 1 on the Brewers with eight doubles and also leads in runs with 23.
There is one injury of note from Saturday: Marlins first baseman/DH Garrett Cooper left the game due to a leg contusion.
–Field Level Media