It's time for another series preview and this time the San Francisco Giants are headed east to take on the Miami Marlins. The Giants have been incredible so far in 2021, having won 3 out of the first 4 series including series victories against the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds. The Giants are 8-4 this season, a .667 winning percentage. Unfortunately, before diving into the actual series, there is some bad news and that is that Johnny Cueto, who has been brilliant this season, has landed on the 10 Day Injured List with a lat strain. The Giants recalled right hander Camilo Doval and also put Lamonte Wade Jr on the IL with a left oblique strain and called up Steven Duggar. Alex Wood should be coming off the injured list for Sunday's game, so more roster moves are going to be happening.
Friday’s Lineups
Tonight's ballgame will feature Anthony DeSclafani, who has simply been dealing. He is 1-0 with a 0.82 ERA on the young 2021 season and will be taking on the team he made his debut with, the Miami Marlins, who are 5-7 this year but 1-5 at home. He'll be facing a lineup which has one name that has had success against him and that's Corey Dickerson, who is 4 for 13 with 2 home runs off Desclafani, and the only other hitter with significant experience is Starling Marte, who is 3 for 23 without an extra base hit.
Regardless of past experience, DeSclafani seems to be rolling right now and should be able to handle this lineup quite well. For the Marlins, it will be the lefty, Daniel Castano, who had a 3.03 ERA in 2020, starting 6 games out the 7 games he appeared in.
He was 19th round pick out of Baylor and will be making his 2021 debut. This is a 6'3" lefty with a fastball in the mid 90's and good stuff but making his debut, might be some butterflies and that's what the Giants will hope for; this guy generally has good control so don't expect a bunch of walks but he can be hittable and I'm looking for
the Giants to jump all over him, but when he's on, he can shut down a team as well. The Giants have no experience against him but I'm confident this team can string together some good hits and get on the board early. I got Desclafni continuing to roll and the Giants taking this one tonight; in other words, the edge for Game 1 definitely goes to the Giants.
Game 1 Edge: Giants
Probables for Saturday as of now look like Aaron Sanchez and the very good Sandy Alcantara. Sanchez has been very solid this year although he hasn't gotten a win yet. He gave up 2 runs in 5 against the Reds and has a 2.7 ERA so far this year. Only Corey Dickerson has double digit at bats against Sanchez and is 2 for 11 with 4 strikeouts. Sandy Alcantara has only started against the Giants a couple times so not a ton of experience against him either for San Francisco, but he really pitched well and generally seems to dominate the Giants, although Brandon
Belt is 3 for 5 with two doubles and should definitely be in the lineup against the right-hander. Both pitchers are 0-1 on the season and both seem deserving and ready to go out and get a win. Alcantara has thrown nothing but quality outings all season, however, and due to his success against the Giants in the past and the fact that I can see the Giants scoring a ton of runs tonight and maybe flatlining a little tomorrow, I am going to give the Marlins slight edge for this matchup.
Game 2 Edge: Marlins
The final game of the series should - as of now and this could change - feature Alex Wood making his San Francisco Giants debut. He has been looking good at the alternate camp throwing rehab games and gave up just 1 run in 3 Spring Training innings with 2 strikeouts. Unfortunately, we just haven't seen enough to really know what to expect on Sunday but this is a guy with 8 years of big league experience, a former All Star who knows how to pitch.
I expect he'll be able to handle this lineup pretty well and he has had success against some of these players like Starling Marte, who is 4 for 22 with zero home runs. Corey Dickerson is some one the Giants need to really be careful about all series long because he's also his Wood well, going 3 for 7 with a double.
The Marlins will go with Pablo Lopez, who has give up 3 home runs in his last 10 2/3rd innings. He pitched well against the Giants in 2019, giving up 1 run in 6+ innings, but hasn't faced them since. He was a bright spot for Miami last year but hasn't gotten off to the best start this year. The Giants need to not let this be his confidence-building start.
In reality, this game is the toughest to predict with Alex Wood, some one who hasn't really pitched great in a few years coming off the IL and making his debut this year and a young 25-year old very talented pitcher who has struggled with the long ball facing a team that has been crushing a lot of home runs this year. I can see it being a bullpen game and both teams have some solid relivers, but both bullpens - including the Giants as proven on Opening Day - can give up some runs.
I'm going to say Alex Wood has a nice debut for the Giants but Lopez also pitches well and this game ends up being decided late in the game where the Giants bullpen holds a small lead and the Giants take it. I'll give the Giants the series and the edge in Game 3.
Game 3 Edge: Giants