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The Miami Marlins are in the thick of the National League Wild Card hunt and can greatly help their hopes of making the postseason with a road win over the New York Mets on Thursday.
Miami Marlins (-135, 7.5) vs. New York Mets
On the mound for the Marlins is Jesus Luzardo, who enters having allowed at least four runs in five of his past 10 starts and though Luzardo is getting 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings, owns a 3.73 ERA and 3.63 fielding independent with allowing 1.2 home runs and 2.8 walks per nine innings.
Providing support is a Marlins offense that has the second-best batting average in the National League but have had a tough time generating power, ranking 23rd overall this season in home runs per game.
Since the trade deadline and acquiring Jake Berger and Josh Bell, the Marlins rank 12th in the league in home runs per game and it has helped their run production go from about 4.1 runs per game before the trade deadline to 4.3 runs per game since.
Mets starting pitcher David Peterson enters Thursday with a 5.37 ERA and 4.45 fielding independent with 1.4 home runs and four walks per nine innings allowed with at least three runs surrendered in four straight starts.
Since the trade deadline, the Mets offense ranks third in home runs per game with just over 4.3 runs per game to show for it and since trading their closer David Robertson to this very Marlins team, both bullpens have struggled.
Since August 1, both bullpens have been two of the worst in the league with the Marlins entering Wednesday’s doubleheader 24th in the league in bullpen ERA with a 4.97 ERA since the start of August and with a 5.21 ERA in that span, the Mets are 25th.
With both bullpens being used heavily yesterday with the doubleheader and both starting pitchers having had their share of issues, it will result in lots of run scoring on Thursday.
The Play: Marlins vs. Mets Over 7.5