Miami @ Washington preview
Nationals Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 13, 2021 ) Miami 3, Washington 0
Washington Nationals starter Erick Fedde will look to continue his success against the visiting Miami Marlins when the teams meet in the second game of a three-game series Tuesday night.
Fedde (6-9, 5.31 ERA) is looking to halt a recent string of rough outings. Over his past three starts, he is 0-1 with an 8.16 ERA, having allowed 22 hits and two walks in 14 1/3 innings.
Last time out, Fedde gave up four runs on five hits in six innings against the Atlanta Braves on Thursday. He struck out seven without a walk but allowed three home runs in a no-decision.
"He was good, just some ... momentum mistakes," Washington manager Dave Martinez said after the Nationals lost the game 7-6 in 10 innings. "We go over a game plan, and he just decides he's gonna just throw a fastball when he shouldn't, and it gets hit a long way. And not just throw a fastball. You want to throw a fastball, can't throw it down the middle. That's hurt us quite a bit."
Fedde will be happy to see the Marlins, against whom he owns a 3-0 lifetime record with a 0.98 ERA in five starts. This year, he is 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA in two starts vs. Miami. The win came on Aug. 24, when he surrendered one run in 6 1/3 innings and struck out 10.
Former Nationals draft pick Jesus Luzardo (5-7, 6.72 ERA) will start for Miami. The 23-year-old left-hander has allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his past three starts, and the Marlins (61-83) won all three contests.
On Thursday, he limited the New York Mets to two runs on two hits and four walks over 5 2/3 innings as the Miami rallied late for a 3-2 win. He struck out eight, matching his season high.
"A little bit of command (issues), but for the most part he was making pitches," Miami manager Don Mattingly said. "He got us into the game and (kept us) in it. Nothing got away from us."
Luzardo has faced Washington once in his career, on Aug. 24 in Miami. He gave up five runs on 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings as the Marlins won 5-1.
Both pitchers would face a challenge in trying to duplicate the effort turned in by Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara on Monday. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and left after eight innings of one-hit baseball in Miami's 3-0 win.
Alcantara struck out seven without a walk, throwing 96 pitches. He stayed in the game after being hit on the leg by a Juan Soto smash that caromed to his first baseman for the out that ended the fourth inning.
"He was electric," said Mattingly, whose team is 10-7 since an eight-game losing streak Aug. 16-24.
Miami's Jesus Sanchez singled home a run in the first, and Alex Jackson provided a cushion when he smacked a two-run double in the eighth.
Josh Bell broke up the no-hitter when he lined a single off the wall in right with two outs in the seventh.
"Obviously after the fourth or fifth inning, everyone knows (about the no-hitter)," Bell said. "You're just trying to capitalize on mistakes. I felt like he did a good job of keeping people off the barrel, aside from Soto up to that point."
The only other National to reach base off Alcantara was Keibert Ruiz, who reached on an error in the sixth. The Washington catcher was back in the lineup after getting hit in the head with a pitch on Saturday.
The Nationals (59-85) have lost four of their past five.
--Field Level Media