Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Urena is hoping his Sunday start against the Philadelphia Phillies goes like the last time he faced them.Urena
(6-12
Enos Slaughter Jersey , 4.29 ERA) threw seven strong innings against Philadelphia earlier this month. A similar outing could help the Marlins (57-91)
avoid a sweep Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. Right-hander Nick Pivetta
(7-12, 4.64) will be on the mound for the Phillies in the series finale.Urena
notched seven strikeouts and gave up only one run on four hits against the
Phillies in a victory Sept. 3. It was part of a strong stretch for the
right-hander. He has a 2.22 ERA in his last four starts, which have followed a
suspension he received for hitting Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr.
with his first pitch of the night Aug. 15.Article continues below ...In his last
outing, Urena surrendered one run on four hits and three walks across 6 1/3
innings in a win against the New York Mets. He hasn’t lost since Aug. 10.“I
think he’s throwing a lot of strikes with his fastballs,” Marlins manager Don
Mattingly told mlb.com of Urena. “He’s keeping the ball down, and letting it
just move. His breaking ball has got a little better shape right now. He’s got
some depth to that pitch.”Urena is 2-4 with a 5.23 ERA in 13 career appearances
(nine starts) against Philadelphia.The Phillies (76-71) have captured their
first series win since early August (which also came against the Marlins at
home) by winning the first two games of the set. Philadelphia was winless in its
last 12 series entering the weekend, going 11-23 in that span.The Phillies’
postseason hopes are now slim
http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-chris-carpenter-jersey , however. A 5-4 victory Saturday pulled Philadelphia within 6 1/2 games of the
Braves in the National League East, and the team is 4 1/2 back of the Colorado
Rockies in the National League wild card race.“That’s how we looked at
(Saturday), this is an opportunity to gain a game in the standings, but much
more importantly, it’s an opportunity to win a series and to demonstrate there’s
zero quit in this team. We will fight until the very end,” Phillies manager Gabe
Kapler told reporters after Saturday’s win.Pivetta is searching for his first
win since Aug. 7. The second-year major leaguer has not allowed more than two
runs in any of his last three starts, but also has not gone deeper than five
innings during that stretch.The Washington Nationals plated two runs on three
hits in 4 1/3 innings against Pivetta on Tuesday.Pivetta is 1-1 with a 2.30
ERA
Kolten Wong Jersey , 0.83 WHIP and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings in three starts against the Marlins this season. He is 2-2 with a 5.67 ERA in seven
career starts against them.Sunday’s game is the final contest between the
Phillies and Marlins this season. Philadelphia has won 11 of the first 18 games
in the season series. The Phillies have won nine season series in a row against
the Marlins, which is tied for the second-longest such streak in the majors.
BOSTON (AP) — So much for the Red Sox only beating up on baseball’s
weaklings.After Yankees general manager Brian Cashman cast doubt on the quality
of Boston’s record heading into their series at Fenway Park, the Red Sox swept
four games from their AL East rivals to expand their lead in the division to a
season-high 9 1/2 games.Noting that the Red Sox had been 4-5 against New York
before the series Cashman said, “You wonder what their record would be if they
weren’t playing us.”The words made their way around the Boston clubhouse.“Yeah,
we saw it,” outfielder Mookie Betts said. “We weren’t paying it any attention.
We know what we are, we know what we can do and we went out and showed it.”J.D.
Martinez singled in a pair of runs to key a ninth-inning rally and Andrew
Benintendi drove in the game-winner in the 10th on Sunday night to help the Red
Sox complete the sweep. After coming to Boston with hopes of closing the gap in
the division
Trevor Rosenthal Jersey , the Yankees left with a renewed focus on the wild-card race.“Everybody knew how big this series was,” Benintendi said. “We
came in and did what we wanted to do. Kind of stole this one. Every win counts
the same, but now again we have to re-shift our focus toward Toronto.”The Red
Sox had the day off on Monday before opening a three-game series against the
Blue Jays. That gave them a little extra time to enjoy their best-in-baseball
record of 79-34 — 45 games above .500 (and just one game below .700) for the
first time since Ted Williams returned from World War II to lead the 1946 team
to a 104-50 record.The Yankees are stuck in a season-high five-game losing
streak. It was just the seventh time they have been swept by the Red Sox in a
series of four or more games in the last 100 seasons. (Of course, they also lost
four straight in the 2004 AL Championship Series.)“A tough way to obviously end
a tough weekend,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “But we can’t let this
define what’s been a great season.”The Yankees were on the verge of snapping
their skid on Sunday night before closer Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded
in the ninth and then, with two out, J.D. Martinez singled in a pair of runs.
Jackie Bradley Jr. scored from first on a throwing error by third baseman Miguel
Andujar to send the game into extra innings.In the 10th
http://www.stlouiscardinalsteamshop.com/authentic-jedd-gyorko-jersey , Benintendi bounced one up the middle to score Tony Renda, who came in as a pinch
runner to make his major league debut, to win it.Boston improved to 7-3 in
extra-inning games and has four walk-off wins in its last 13 games at Fenway.
The Red Sox have a best-in-baseball 11 sweeps this season while not getting
swept themselves at all.They are 8-5 against the Yankees, putting to rest any
doubts Cashman might have had when he said: “You wonder what their record would
be if they weren’t playing us. Because when we go head to head, we do some
damage against them and it doesn’t seem like anybody else is capable.”Asked
about the comments before the series, Red Sox manager Alex Cora avoided adding
to the controversy.“Don’t lead me into that one,” he said. “He also said that he
would love to be in our position
Carlos Martinez Jersey , that he respects the way we’re playing. I leave it at that.”
