Marlins vs. Phillies Series Preview

The Miami Marlins take on their division opponent, the Philadelphia Phillies, for a 3-game, mid-week series. The Fish are dead last in the NL East, the Phils right above them. The Marlins are four games below the Phillies in the division standings and must string some wins together if they want to push for the playoffs and avoid a sale at the trade deadline. As of Tuesday morning, however, the Marlins did make one trade. They are sending Corey Dickerson and Adam Cimber to the Toronto Blue Jays for infielder Joe Panik and minor league pitcher Andrew McInvale.

This series preview will give you all the details:

• Schedule, Watch, Listen
• Probable Pitchers
• Recent Lineups
• What To Watch For

Schedule, Watch, Listen

Tuesday, June 29 at 7:05 pm

Wednesday, June 30 at 7:05 pm

Thursday, July 1 at 6:05 pm

• TV broadcast for all 3 games: Bally Sports Florida
• Radio broadcast for all 3 games: 940 AM WINZ, WAQI 710

Grid View

• Trevor Rogers, Marlins starting pitcher on Tuesday Photo by Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports
• Vince Velasquez, Phillies starting pitcher on Tuesday Photo by Bill Streicher/USA TODAY Sports
• Jordan Holloway, Marlins starting pitcher on Wednesday Photo by Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
• Aaron Nola, Phillies starting pitcher on Wednesday Photo by Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports
• Pablo López, Marlins starting pitcher on Thursday Photo by Jim Rassol/USA TODAY Sports
• Zach Eflin, Phillies starting pitcher on Thursday Photo by Wendell Cruz/USA TODAY Sports

Probable Pitchers

Tuesday: LHP Trevor Rogers vs. RHP Vince Velasquez

• Rogers: 2.08 ERA, 1.038 WHIP, 29.5 K%, 37.0 HardHit% in 86.2 IP
• Velasquez: 4.74 ERA, 1.404 WHIP, 25.8 K%, 40.9 HardHit% in 57.0 IP

Wednesday: RHP Jordan Holloway vs. RHP Aaron Nola

• Holloway: 2.55 ERA, 1.189 WHIP, 19.2 K%, 26.5 HardHit% in 17.2 IP
• Nola: 3.97 ERA, 1.180 WHIP, 28.3 K%, 37.6 HardHit% in 90.2 IP

Thursday: RHP Pablo López vs. RHP Zach Eflin

• López: 2.87 ERA, 1.077 WHIP, 25.8 K%, 33.1 HardHit% in 91.0 IP
• Eflin: 4.20 ERA, 1.256 WHIP, 23.1 K%, 40.2 HardHit% in 90.0 IP

Recent Lineups

FanGraphs.com

What to watch for on...

Tuesday: Trevor Rogers faces the Phillies for the third time this season.

• In those two starts: 12.2 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 13 K, 1 HR.
• Rogers’ two starts against the Phillies were back-to-back in May. He’s pitched well against them, but the two players with the most success against Rogers are Rhys Hoskins (4-for-8, 1 2B, 1 HR) and Andrew McCutchen (4-for-7, 1 2B, 2 HR). Fast-forward to Rogers’ last start against the Blue Jays: it was solid but was his worst of the year considering he has been dominating. Look for him to come out strong on Tuesday night.

Wednesday: Don’t let Aaron Nola record 10 consecutive strikeouts.

• In his most recent start, Nola struck out 10 consecutive batters, tying the terrific Tom Seaver for the most consecutive strikeouts in MLB history.
• Besides his impressive start against the Mets last week, Nola hasn’t been his usual stellar self this season. Prior to his start against the Mets, opposing hitters are slashing .253/.305/.421 (.726 OPS) against Nola. When those batters put the ball in play, they have a .320 batting average (BABIP). To be fair, he does strikeout batters at a higher clip than league average: 28.3 K% this season vs. league average of 23.9 K%.

Thursday: Marlins hitters vs. Zach Eflin.

• Current Marlins hitters slash line vs. Eflin: .309/.336/.482 (.818 OPS).
• The Marlins unofficial team captain Miguel Rojas has faced Eflin the most and with good results: 10-for-30, 4 2B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 K. Rojas has struggled since returning from the injured list with a finger dislocation, but he put together five hits in four games last week, including his fourth home run of the year. Adam Duvall, Jesús Aguilar, and Jon Berti have also faced Eflin more than 10 times with limited success.