Two National League teams riding serious hot streaks will face off Friday night in Phoenix. The Miami Marlins visit the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first game of a three-game series. You can follow live GameCast coverage and watch live streaming coverage.
Follow the Game: Watch and Listen Live
Watch: D-backs – Dbacks.TV, 12 News KPNX
Marlins – FanDuel Sports Network Florida
Listen: D-backs – 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station, KQMR Latino Mix 100.3 FM
Marlins – FOX Sports 940AM (WINZ), WAQI 710
Both teams have been playing great baseball lately. Each squad has won five of their last seven games and 10 of their last 15 contests.
Marlins Rolling After Giants Sweep
The Marlins just finished sweeping the San Francisco Giants with a big 12-5 win on Thursday. Miami has now taken three of their last four series.
“We’re playing our brand of baseball,” said Miami bench coach Carson Vitale. He had to take over after manager Clayton McCullough got ejected in the first inning of Thursday’s game against the Giants. “Guys know their roles. Everybody shows up every day ready to do their job. We’re going to play hard.”
The Marlins have been scoring runs like crazy. They’ve put up at least four runs in six of their last nine games.
Shortstop Otto Lopez is leading the charge. He’s riding a seven-game hitting streak, going 12-for-27 with seven RBIs during that stretch. Lopez had six hits and five RBIs just in the series against San Francisco.
Agustin Ramirez and Kyle Stowers both launched their 12th home runs of the season on Thursday. Ramirez collected six hits and three RBIs against the Giants.
Diamondbacks Winning Despite Injury Nightmare
Arizona has also been hot, winning four of their last five series. But their success comes with a huge catch – they’re dealing with a ridiculous number of injuries.
The Diamondbacks lost three more players during their recent road trip to Toronto, Colorado, and Chicago. The trip ended with a 7-3 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday.
“We’ve taken on a lot of water, and the ship is not sinking,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “The ship is still sailing, and they’re responsible for that. I’ve just got to keep it on its course and create a vision that we’re going to find our way out of this. The guys believe that.”
The injury list keeps growing. Corbin Carroll suffered a chip fracture in his left wrist when he got hit by a pitch on June 18 in Toronto. Gabriel Moreno went down the same day with a hairline fracture in his right index finger. Reserve player Ildemaro Vargas fractured his right foot Tuesday when a pitch hit him against the White Sox.
Those injuries came on top of losing some key players for the entire season. No. 1 starter Corbin Burnes and co-closers Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk all need Tommy John surgery.
“I have not seen anything like this,” Lovullo said. “Usually you have a bad week, or a bad month, or two guys in a 30-day period of time that will go down. But it’s just been one after another. It’s frustrating. I feel for the players. I feel for this team.”
Friday’s Pitching Matchup
Arizona’s Merrill Kelly (7-3, 3.39 ERA) will start against Miami’s Eury Perez (0-2, 6.17 ERA). Both are right-handed pitchers.
Kelly has been Arizona’s best pitcher this season. He’s gone 6-2 with a 2.68 ERA in his last 14 starts. Against Miami in his career, Kelly is 1-2 with a 5.52 ERA in five games. His one win came when he held the Marlins to just one run over six innings in a 10-4 victory on April 15.
Perez is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery that wiped out his entire 2024 season. This will be his fourth start this year. He’s been on a pitch limit and hasn’t made it through five innings yet.
“Continue to build up with each outing and just working on some of the pitches,” said Perez, who has never faced the Diamondbacks before. “Feeling better with each start.”
Both teams are playing well despite their different challenges. The Marlins are healthy and confident, while the Diamondbacks are showing incredible toughness by winning games with a skeleton crew.