Giants at Marlins
The Miami Marlins are sitting in the National League East basement and narrowly avoided being no-hit while dropping the rubber match of a three-game series at home against the San Diego Padres over the weekend. The Marlins will try to pick it up when they host the surging San Francisco Giants in the opener of a four-game series on Monday.
Miami is last in the majors in runs scored at 224 and could not find a hit until the seventh inning on Sunday before falling 3-1 to the Padres - the fourth time in nine games this month the Marlins were held to one run. The Giants managed only two runs on Sunday but that was all the team needed to secure their third consecutive series win and move a game above .500 at 33-32. San Francisco managed to beat Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer in taking two of three at Washington to begin its 10-game road trip and has climbed all the way into second place in the NL West with its strong play of late. The Giants will try to keep rolling on Monday behind Madison Bumgarner while the Marlins counter with fellow veteran left-hander Wei-Yin Chen.
TV: 7:10 p.m.ET, NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco), FS Florida (Miami)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants LH Madison Bumgarner (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. Marlins LH Wei-Yin Chen (1-3, 5.86)
Bumgarner made his season debut on Tuesday after missing the first two months with a broken pinky and held Arizona to two runs and eight hits in six innings while absorbing a loss. The North Carolina native went 4-9 with a 3.32 ERA in 17 turns last season. Bumgarner is just 2-3 with a 4.73 ERA in seven career starts against Miami.
Chen is winless in his last seven outings and was reached for two runs and six hits across 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision at St. Louis on Wednesday. The Taiwan native has completed six innings in just one of his eight starts this season - 7 1/3 innings against Washington on May 26 - and handed out 18 walks in 35 1/3 total frames. Chen is making his second career start against San Francisco and is 1-0 with a 1.06 ERA in three home starts in 2018.
WALK-OFFS
1. Giants SS Brandon Crawford went 4-for-4 on Sunday and is 18-for-35 over the last 10 contests.
2. Marlins rookie CF Lewis Brinson is hitless in his last four games, dropping his batting average to .163.
3. Miami 3B Brian Anderson went 0-for-3 on Sunday to snap a seven-game hitting streak.