Miami second baseman Xavier Edwards, with his batting average over .300, will look to continue his hot hitting when the visiting Marlins play a doubleheader against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.
The Marlins evened the series with a 5-1 win on Friday, pulling within one game of the .500 mark. Miami is 5 1/2 games behind in the race for the final National League wild-card spot.
The Braves, who have long been out of contention, have lost 12 of their past 16 games.
Edwards is 5-for-10 in the first two games of the series, lifting his average to .303. He was batting .252 through May 7. His 55 hits since June 22 are the most in the National League.
“You go into spring with goals and you get punched in a mouth a little bit and stuff doesn’t go your way, but you figure out how to crawl out of it and get back to playing winning baseball,” Edwards said. “I’m glad I’ve kind of turned the season around a bit for me and just help our team win as many games as we can.”
The Saturday day-night doubleheader is the result of a rainout on April 6.
The day game will feature a matchup of rookie pitchers, Atlanta’s Hurston Waldrep (1-0, 1.59 ERA) and Miami’s Ryan Gusto (7-4, 4.92). In the nightcap featuring veteran starters, the Braves will start Erick Fedde (3-12, 5.32) against the Marlins’ Sandy Alcantara (6-10, 6.44).
Waldrep was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday and entered the Braves’ suspended game against the Reds in the Speedway Classic with one out in the first inning. He responded by pitching 5 2/3 strong innings, allowing one run on three hits to earn his first major league victory.
“What a great performance,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “I’m glad we had him ready. That was huge. He was ready and on regular rest. … Love to see him piggyback on that and stay up here and finish the year here. That would be great.”
Gusto is set to make his Marlins debut after he was acquired from the Houston Astros along with two minor-leaguers in exchange for outfielder Jesus Sanchez on July 31.
Gusto won his final outing with the Astros, throwing six innings of one-run ball against the Washington Nationals on July 30. He will be opposing the Braves for the first time in his career.
Alcantara appeared to be back on the right track in late July when he put together two excellent starts — wins against the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in which he allowed one run, which was unearned, over 12 innings. However, he took a step backwards against the Houston Astros on Monday when he yielded six runs on nine hits in seven innings during an 8-2 loss.
“Couple hard contact, couple soft contact balls and it seemed like they came out ready for all the breaking balls that I was throwing,” Alcantara said.
Alcantra has made 14 career starts against Atlanta, going 5-4 with a 3.05 ERA. He beat the Braves on June 22 with a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings.
Fedde will be making his third start since being acquired by the Braves ahead of the trade deadline. He is 0-2 with a 6.30 ERA with his new team. In his latest outing, against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, he gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings.
In 11 career starts against Miami, Fedde is 4-2 with a 2.64 ERA. He has not faced the Marlins since 2022.