The Miami Marlins squeaked away with a rare win on Wednesday night against the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves. The team is hoping to carry the momentum into another win on the road on July 4. The pitching matches do not work in the Marlins' favor, so pulling out back-to-back victories could be difficult.
The Atlanta Braves will give Julio Teheran the start. They are hoping the pitcher can get the team back into their dominating ways over the Marlins. The Braves had taken 18 of 21 from Miami in recent years, including eight straight by a 40-10 margin. They lost last night on a Justin Ruggiano three-run homer in the fifth inning. Ruggiano has been a home run machine on the road, hitting all 12 away from Miami.
Teheran will look to cool down the Miami offense. He is 6-4 with a 3.12 ERA on the season. The right-hander is sitting towards the top of the league with a 2.27 ERA since April 23. He has been particularly strong when pitching at home. He struck out 29 in 20 scoreless innings during a three game win streak. In his last start, he waived 10 over six innings in a 3-0 win over Arizona.
The Marlins will turn to Henderson Alvarez who will be making his season debut after missing three months with shoulder inflammation.Acquired in November from the Blue Jays, the right-hander went 10-17 with a 4.52 ERA in 41 starts in Toronto. The team believes they have a great young arm in Alvarez and will be banking on him bringing stability to the starting rotation.
Atlanta is 21-7 at home since May 5. During that stretch they have only dropped back-to-back games once over that stretch.
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