Pablo Lopez and the Marlins move on to New York

After a 3-1 series loss to the Chicago Cubs, the Miami Marlins and pitcher Pablo Lopez move on to New York as the team faces the Mets.

The Miami Marlins road trip started out promising but ended like it normally has this season, with a string of losses and a failure to secure another series victory, this time against the Chicago Cubs.

Trevor Richards once again could not find the prescription for a victory as he remains the only Marlins starter without one this season as Miami fell 4-1 at Wrigley Field. Now, it’s on to New York and a three-game set with the Mets where the falling Marlins hope to gain some ground in a divisional series that will challenge the team’s lineup against New York’s pitching staff.

Pablo Lopez will be given the ball with an assignment to end the bleeding of a three-game losing streak.

Per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, “The Marlins grinded out at-bats off Yu Darvish, who lasted four innings and threw 97 pitches. Darvish walked six and struck out seven. Rosell Herrera’s RBI single in the fourth inning made it 2-1, but that was as close as they would get.”

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It’s a continuing saga of when will the team’s bats find some magic, find a rhythm and become a mediocre hitting ball club instead of the current situation. Pitching has been better of late, but wins are still hard to come by. Like I wrote in my previous story, the Marlins got a solid performance from Wei-Yin Chen, which was the most promising part of the early game loss.

“Richards is one of Miami’s better young starters. On Thursday, he was victimized by two home runs — the first a solo shot to Kris Bryant in a two-run first inning,” Frisaro added.“And in the fifth inning, Anthony Rizzo went outside the zone, scraping a curveball from one knee and driving it for a two-run homer, giving the Cubs a three-run cushion.”

Now, the focus shifts to New York as the cold weather in Chicago is now a thing of the past.

Lopez may have had his best start of the season in his last game. While it was a no-decision, he pitched shutout baseball over six innings before being removed.

If Lopez has issues with seeing batters the third time through the order where his ERA is 8.10. He needs to work as he does beforehand where his ERA is an impressive .50 the first time.

He has pitched in 38 innings this season and has 39 strikeouts. The Mets will counter with Zack Wheeler who is 2-2 this season with a 4.64 ERA.