MLB Game Preview - Miami at Philadelphia

Sun Apr 28, 2019 1:05 PM EDT

The host Philadelphia Phillies will try to take a 3-1 series win from the Miami Marlins on Sunday.

Philadelphia, however, will likely be without two-time All-Star shortstop Jean Segura, who was beaned during Saturday's 12-9 win over Miami.

Fortunately for all concerned, the 90-mph fastball from Marlins right-hander Trevor Richards hit Segura's helmet first.

"Jean is doing fine," Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. "He went through a concussion test, and we don't think he has one. So far, so good."

Segura, who was on his first day back from a 10-day trip to the injured list due a strained left hamstring, is batting .324 but has only played 17 games this season.

He will be re-evaluated on Sunday, and Richards, for his part, was contrite.

"Ball gets away from me," Richards said. "You never want to throw at someone's face like that. I hope he's alright."

Sunday's game will feature a battle between right-handers: Zach Eflin for Philadelphia and Pablo Lopez for Miami.

Eflin is 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA this season. However, he is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA this season in his one previous home start. For his career, his ERA is 1.51 better at home than on the road.

Against the Marlins, he is 2-2 with a 5.52 ERA in five career starts. This year, he is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA against the Marlins, lasting just four innings and allowing 10 hits.

Lopez has faced the Phillies just once, and it happened last season in Philadelphia. He got a no-decision but had a sparkling 1.50 ERA in six innings, allowing no walks and just five hits.

Overall this season, Lopez is 2-3 with a 4.44 ERA. But in his most recent start, on Tuesday at the Cleveland Indians, Lopez carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He won that game, allowing just two hits, two walks, one run, none earned, in 6 1/3 innings.

"I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't thinking about it," Lopez said of the no-hitter. "I had it in my mind. It was there. But, at the same time, I had to take a little breath and go one pitch at a time."

Once Sunday's game gets to the bullpen -- which almost always happens in the majors -- the Marlins could take some comfort knowing how they battled back on Saturday from a 10-1 deficit.

By the eighth inning, the Marlins trailed by just one run at 10-9.

"There are no moral victories," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "But you are always encouraged when your club continues to battle. It shows what our guys are made of."

Philadelphia's bullpen allowed four runs in four innings on Saturday. Miami's bullpen was not any better, allowing seven runs in five innings.

"What saved us," Kapler said, "was our run-scoring ability."

Besides Segura, the other injury consideration for Sunday's game concerns Marlins first baseman Neil Walker, who had a pinch-hit single on Saturday. He has been battling a hamstring injury but may be ready to return to the starting lineup on Sunday.

--Field Level Media