Washington right-hander Cade Cavalli will look to bounce back from the worst start of his young career when the Nationals host the Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The Marlins will counter with their own rookie right-hander, Adam Mazur.
Cavalli (1-1, 5.11 ERA) will be making his seventh career start and sixth this season in his return from Tommy John surgery. He fashioned a 2.82 ERA over his first four starts of the season but then ran into the Yankees. On Wednesday in New York, he gave up eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits — including four home runs — in 2 1/3 innings.
The Yankees sent 15 men to the plate in the third inning and ultimately scored nine runs.
“Just got to be better,” Cavalli, 27, said postgame. “I got to throw inside a little more. Didn’t do that a whole lot today, and they were getting pretty comfy on the outer half of the plate.”
Mazur (0-1, 5.59 ERA) will be making his third start of the season and the 11th of his career. He was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville on Thursday, taking the rotation spot of Janson Junk (elbow). In a no-decision against the host New York Mets that day, he allowed two runs on four hits over four innings.
The Marlins (65-73) are trying to get by in terms of pitching right now. On Monday, they placed right-hander Edward Cabrera (7-7, 3.57 ERA) on the injured list with a sprained right elbow. In his last start, on Saturday against the Mets, he allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits with four strikeouts, one walk and one hit-by-pitch in four innings.
“He felt some tightness, so we just felt (it was best) to get him out of there and to get that checked out and try to have a better idea of what we were looking at,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “So (we) still have some further evaluations.”
After a spirited series in which they took three of four against the Mets, Miami was stymied by Andrew Alvarez and the Nationals’ bullpen in a 2-0 loss on Monday.
Opener Lake Bachar gave up two runs in the second inning. The Marlins’ relief corps combined for six scoreless innings, but the offense could not capitalize.
“I thought our ‘pen did really well today,” Bachar said. “Had a lot of fresh arms come in today for us, getting called back up and all that stuff. It was really good.”
For Washington, both Alvarez and his catcher, C.J. Stubbs, were making their major league debuts. Alvarez allowed one hit over five shutout innings for the win, while Stubbs went 0-for-3 as the Nationals (54-83) halted an eight-game skid.
“When I found out I would be catching Alvy in his debut, it calmed me down,” said Stubbs, 28. “It gave me some familiarity out there. I was obviously excited for him, and the fact we were able to go out there and do it together just made everything so special.”
Luis Garcia Jr. had two hits for the Nationals. Over his past nine games, Garcia is 9-for-27 (.333) with two doubles, two homers, four RBIs and four runs.