Giants, Marlins battle for NL's worst record
The Miami Marlins and the San Francisco Giants -- the two teams with the worst records in the National League -- will open a three-game series on Tuesday night at Marlins Park.
Miami just closed a 4-3 road trip with a come-from-behind, 3-2 win over at Washington on Sunday. The Nationals had won the series' first three games.
The Giants, who have lost five consecutive games, did not play on Monday, using it as a cross-country travel day.
Marlins first baseman Neil Walker, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI on Sunday, believes his team is in a good place.
"Scrappy game right there," Walker said. "It's good to finish the road trip with a winning record and head back home."
Indeed, it was the first winning road trip of the year for the Marlins, who are 9-17 at home.
The Giants, meanwhile, have been better on the road (11-13) than at home (10-18). San Francisco was swept in a three-game weekend series by the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, getting outscored 34-8, including an 18-2 defeat in the opener.
"That was our worst series of the year," manager Bruce Bochy said of his Giants, who slipped to 10 games under .500 for the first time this season. "I can't remember when we had three consecutive games with the kind of baseball we just played.
"This (upcoming) road trip (nine games in 10 days), I hope it brings the guys together and we get back to playing the kind of ball we need to play."
Tuesday's pitching matchup will feature two right-handers -- Miami's Trevor Richards (1-5, 4.14 ERA) against San Francisco's Jeff Samardzija (2-3, 3.27).
Richards, known for his killer changeup, has improved in four May starts, sporting a 3.38 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings. He throws his fastball 40 percent of the time and his changeup 37 percent.
After earning his first win of the season on May 17 against the New York Mets and following that up with a no-decision at Detroit on Thursday, Richards hopes to get on a roll. He won his only career appearance against the Giants, when he allowed one run on two hits in six innings during a 3-1 victory on June 12, 2018.
He is also better at home than on the road in his brief career. He is 4-7 with a 4.02 ERA at home as opposed to 1-7 with a 4.70 ERA on the road.
Samardzija, 34, is 5-2 with one save and a 3.62 ERA in 18 career appearances against the Marlins.
This season, he has the best ERA among the San Francisco rotation, but he hasn't earned a win since April 23.
His most recent start resulted in a 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, but he lasted six innings -- his second-longest outing of the season. He allowed four hits, two walks and six runs, none earned. Samardzija had a throwing error and a wild pitch during Atlanta's six-run second inning that did all the damage against him.
"That was some of (Samardzija's) best stuff all year," Bochy said. "We just gave them too many outs during that second inning."
Samardzija will look to slow Marlins rookie outfielder Harold Ramirez, 24, who is hitting .381 since making his major league debut on May 11. Ramirez went 1-for-4 with an RBI on Monday.
--Field Level Media
