The 3-3 Philadelphia Phillies will face the 1-4 Miami Marlins over the next few days in a four-game series. The opening matchup will take place tonight at 6.40PM ET, with the Phils looking to get back to winning ways after dropping a 9-6 game to the Mets in excruciating fashion.
Miami has become somewhat of a bogey team for the Phils in recent years despite being a franchise stuck in the heart of mediocrity. They won 10 of the 19 games the teams played last year, but went 67-95 overall, ten wins back from the Phils.
As far as this matchup goes, the Phillies are on the road for the first time this season and have lost three of their last four games. Compounding the issue is the fact that they struggled mightily away from Citizens Bank Park last season, going 35-46 in comparison to 47-34 at home. The Marlins were in a similar spot in 2021, actually going positive at home as opposed to their atrocious 25-56 road record.
The good news for the Phillies is that the Marlins are hardly lighting up the league right now (shock) and are in somewhat of an offensive slump. They maintain a .199 batting average and rank second to last in the entire league in OPS. Their 33 base hits also rank 29th in the MLB.
The Pitching matchup
Kyle Gibson will take the mound today after starting off beautifully in 2022. He recorded ten strikeouts in 7 innings in his opening game of the season, allowing 2 hits and 0 runs. If there is ever a team that Gibson can stay hot against, this is the one.
Sandy Alcantara will be trying to keep the opening quartet of Phils’ bats quiet, but he gave up 3 runs in 5 innings during his first taste of 2022 action. He’s 5-4 in his career vs the Phillies, with an ERA of 3.13. He’s allowed 9 runs across his last two games against them.
Betting information
The Phillies are slight underdogs coming into this game, positioned at around +100 depending on where you bet. This means that if you were to bet $50 on the Phillies, you’d win $50, doubling your money. The Marlins are -117 (you’d have to bet $58.50 to win $100).
If you don’t think the Phillies will win but will be able to keep it close, you can bet on them to stay within two runs (+1.5 handicap) at -220. To get the Phillies to win by more than two runs, you can get +160 at DraftKings along with a free $1,000 deposit bonus.
The Over/Under on runs for the game is 7.5.
Game Prediction
Phillies 5, Marlins 2
Kyle Gibson started the season red-hot and although the Phils struggled to get the bats firing, there were signs of life against a Mets team that was simply too much to handle. Gibson has every chance at silencing an already quiet offense, giving a high-powered lineup a free shot at heating up.
Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire
