The Miami Marlins and the Washington Nationals play their final head to head match of the season on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.
Washington defeated Miami 9-4 on Tuesday in a game where Max Scherzer became only the 17th pitcher since 1900 to strike out at least 300 batters in a single season. The Nationals have dominated the Marlins this season, winning 12 out of 18 meetings this season.
Wei-Yin Chen will open on top of the mound for the Miami Marlins. The 33 year old left hander has started 25 games this season and has a record of 6-11 with an ERA of 4.66 and a WHIP of 1.30. Chen is 2-2 with one no decision in his last five starts.
In his most recent outing, Chen fanned eight batters in seven scoreless innings pitched while allowing just three hits and no walks. However, despite the masterful performance, Chen did not get the decision as the Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 last September 21st.
In his last seven starts, Chen has a 2.88 ERA. Since the start of August, he has posted a record of 3-3 in eight startswith an ERA of 2.53 while striking out a total of 48 batters across 46.1 innings pitched. However, the concern here for the Marlins is that Chen has a high 9.29 ERA on the road which is perplexing because his 1.62 ERA at home is the best by an National League pitcher.
The Nationals will start right hander Kyle McGowin opposite Wei-Yin Chen for their final home game of the season.. The 26 year old Savannah State product will be making his first career Major League start against the Marlins. McGowin has appeared in three games this season, pitching a total of 2.2 innings while allowing two runs on two hits and no walks with three strikeouts.
The Sag Harbor, New York native has a season ERA of 6.75 and a WHIP of .75 although those numbers may not be an indication of his abilities because he has not pitched enough innings yet. McGowin spent the last six summers in the minor leagues but was called up for the final month of the season after an impressive seasons with Class AAA Syracuse Chiefs where he posted an ERA of 1.20
Bryce Harper leads the Nationals with 34 home runs and 100 RBIs on the season. This is the first time in his career where the 25 year old has posted 100 RBIs in a single season and it may have come in what is expected to be the final season of his Washington Nationals career.
Heading to Tuesday’s matchups, the Washington Nationals lead their season series 11-6 although both teams have split their last six meetings at three wins apiece. Both Miami and Washington have won just half of their last 10 games.
Miami has just once in their last seven road games and are 3-10 SU in their last 13 games on the road against Washington. Overall, the Marlins are 6-19 SU when playing Washington. Chen has pitched well since the month of August and is coming off a splendid performance against the Reds but as we said earlier, he has struggled on the road all season long with an ERA of 9.29 and record of 1-8.
The Nationals don’t necessarily have the better pitcher in this matchup but Chen has struggled so badly on the road this season. And given that they are playing in their last home game of the season and probably in Bryce Harper’s last game as a National, expect Washington to put up a good game offensively. Prediction: Washington -210
The total has gone over in 4 of Miami’s last 5 games on the road and in 5 out of their last 6 games against Washington. When playing in Washington, the total has gone over in their last five meetings. The over is 16-6-1 in the Nationals’ last 23 games at home.
Washington has averaged 7 runs per game in their last 4 games and they’ve gone 3-1 over that stretch. Chen is yielding and ERA of 9.29 on the road this season. These teams have combined for at least 13 runs in three out of their last five games and have combined for more than 10 runs scored in six out of their last seven games.Prediction: Over 8.5
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