Marlins hope Pablo Lopez can continue home success this afternoon

Miami Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez has looked much better on the mound at home than on the road this season.

Pablo Lopez has enjoyed more success at Marlins Park than he has on the road. The Marlins are hoping that translates to a win today as the 23-year-old takes the bump against the Washington Nationals at 1:10 today.

The ball club lost its 101st game of the season on Saturday night (53-101) – falling 10-4 to the Nationals in 10 innings.

This is the kind of game the team needs for various reasons, one of which is to stop the bleeding of a three-game losing streak. Lopez, who is 5-8 this season with a 4.94 ERA, could be on the mound for the final time this season after spending a majority of the second half of 2019 on the Injured List with a shoulder injury.

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Lopez should be part of the starting rotation next season, but there are some concerns this is the second straight season the youngster has on the shelf due to an injury to his pitching shoulder. In his 10 starts at home, he is 3-3 for the season with a 3.22 ERA. He has three starts this month and is 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA.

The team’s bats will need to support him as they have scored 23 runs in their last five games.

Miami will face Austin Voth who is 1-1 this season with a 3.58 ERA. This is the first time the lineup will face the right-handed pitcher.

Despite the loss on Saturday night, the team showed they could rally and get clutch hitting from their young players making an impact in the month of September. Miami rallied in the eighth inning to tie the score at 4-4 to eventually send it to extra innings before the wheels came off in the bullpen.

“We get some big hits and were able to keep grabbing that momentum,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of the four-run eighth that set up extra innings. “We had some good at-bats in there. Miggy [Rojas] gets it going [with a double]. Harold [Ramirez] gets a big hit. Obviously, [Austin] Dean’s hit breaks it open. We were at least able to rally back and get that tied.”