Marlins at Cubs
The Chicago Cubs have climbed into first place in the National League Central with seven straight victories and look to avoid a letdown when they host the major league-worst Miami Marlins on Monday for the opener of their four-game series. Kris Bryant belted a grand slam as the Cubs completed a three-game sweep of St. Louis with Sunday's 13-5 victory and pushed their total to 55 runs during the winning streak.
Willson Contreras also homered on Sunday and has gone 8-for-20 with five RBIs over his last five games with an at-bat while Javier Baez is 7-for-17 in his last four contests for Chicago, which is 10-4 at home and swept a three-game set at Miami from April 15-17. Veteran Cole Hamels looks to remain unbeaten when he takes the mound for the Cubs in the series opener while Miami counters with Sandy Alcantara, who has not recorded a victory since March 31. The Marlins are the only team in the league yet to reach 10 victories after dropping seven of their last eight contests and managed a total of five runs while getting swept by Atlanta over the weekend. Martin Prado leads Miami with a .288 batting average after recording a pair of hits in Sunday’s 3-1 loss and needs one homer to reach 100 for his career.
TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Miami), NBCS Chicago Plus
PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Sandy Alcantara (1-3, 4.86 ERA) vs. Cubs LH Cole Hamels (3-0, 3.19)
Alcantara is winless in five starts since his season debut, when he shut out Colorado over eight innings, and gave up five runs over six frames in a loss to the Cubs on April 17. The 23-year-old Dominican has yielded 19 runs - 16 earned - on 29 hits and 10 walks over 21 1/3 innings in his last four starts - all team losses. Alcantara has registered 22 strikeouts and issued 15 walks over 33 1/3 frames while opponents are batting .282 against him.
The Cubs have won five straight games with Hamels on the mound, but he has permitted seven runs - five earned - and nine hits over 10 2/3 innings in his last two starts without receiving a decision. The 35-year-old Californian recorded eight strikeouts while blanking Miami on three hits over seven frames on April 17 for his most recent win. Prado is 23-for-72 with two homers and nine RBIs versus Hamels, who is 11-15 with a 3.36 ERA in 39 career starts against the Marlins.
WALK-OFFS
1. Marlins OF Curtis Granderson leads the team with 11 RBIs but is batting .176 with 36 strikeouts in 29 games.
2. Chicago 1B Anthony Rizzo has registered 25 RBIs, one behind Baez for the team lead, and is one homer shy of 200 for his career.
3. Miami is last in the majors in runs scored (91), RBIs (88), walks (82) and home runs (23).