MLB Game Preview - Miami at NY Mets

Wed Aug 26, 2020 7:10 PM EDT

The Miami Marlins arrived at their hotel after 3 a.m. Tuesday morning and didn't complete their doubleheader sweep of the New York Mets until just after midnight.

But there will be no rest for the weary Marlins on Wednesday, when Miami looks to secure a series win over the host Mets in the third game of a four-game series.

Jacob deGrom (2-0, 1.93 ERA), who has won the last two National League Cy Young Awards, is scheduled to make his first start in a week for the Mets against fellow right-hander Elieser Hernandez (1-0, 2.29 ERA).

The Marlins swept a doubleheader with back-to-back shutouts for the first time ever Tuesday, when they earned a 4-0 win in an opener delayed more than an hour by a third-inning rain storm before recording a 3-0 victory in the nightcap.

With deGrom looming, though, manager Don Mattingly knew there wasn't much time for the Marlins to enjoy a sweep that further cemented their status as playoff contenders in the shortened season. At 14-11, Miami has the fifth-best winning percentage (.560) in the NL.

"I've said it so many times: It's one game at a time and whatever happens today is pretty much, in about 10 minutes, it's over," Mattingly said. "We've got Jacob deGrom (Wednesday) and that's going to be the game we've got to try to win.

"He's going to be a handful. We're going to have to fight. Elieser's going to have to be good. Again: We're capable of beating anybody on any given day. But you know you've got to wear a hard hat (Wednesday because) that's going to be a tough day."

The Mets, who had their previous four games postponed after two team members -- an unnamed player and an unnamed coach -- tested positive for the coronavirus, had a historically tough day Tuesday, when they were blanked in both games of a doubleheader for the first time in 45 years. The Montreal Expos beat New York by a pair of 7-0 scores on Aug. 5, 1975, after which manager Yogi Berra was fired.

On Tuesday, the Mets had just one 1-2-3 inning -- the first inning of the nightcap -- but had just three hits in 32 plate appearances with a runner on base.

"It's one of those things (where) we've got to bounce back quickly," manager Luis Rojas said of the Mets, who won the first three games of a scheduled four-game series against the Marlins last week before the positive tests forced the quartet of postponements. "We've been playing really good lately and these last two games were different."

deGrom hasn't pitched since Aug. 19, when he allowed four hits over six scoreless innings but didn't factor into the decision in the Mets' 5-3 win over the Marlins. It was the last game for New York before the pair of positive tests were revealed.

Hernandez earned the win last Friday, when he allowed two runs over five innings as the Marlins beat the Washington Nationals, 3-2.

deGrom is 10-7 with a 3.14 ERA in 24 career starts against Miami. Hernandez is 0-1 with a 1.50 ERA in six games (one start) against New York.

--Field Level Media