San Francisco Giants at Miami Marlins 4/16/21 - MLB Picks & Predictions

The San Fransisco Giants travel on the road to loanDepot park to open a series against the Miami Marlins. San Fransisco has got of to red-hot start to the year and has won four of their last five games, winning a home series over the Reds capping it off with a 3-0 win to improve to 8-4 on the year. The Marlins have won four straight games, sweeping the Braves on the road behind two-extra inning wins and improving to 5-7 on the season.

San Fransisco has really struggled at the plate this season and comes in batting just .207 on the year ranking 27th in the MLB. They’re average just 3.42 runs per game, ranking 2nd to last in the MLB in scoring offense. Outside of the veteran Evan Longoria have really struggled at the plate. Longoria continues to produce, even at 35, and is hitting .318 with a team-high 4 homeruns and 8 RBIs. Donovan Solano has anchored the left side of the infield and is tied for 18th in the MLB batting .353 in the young season.

The right-handed Anthony Desclafani will get the ball in his third start of the 2021 season, he’s coming off two solid starts where he pitched 11 combined innings allowing 10 hits and a single run. Desclafiani struck out 8 and walked just 1 in a scoreless 6 innings in his last start in a 4-0 Giants win over the Rockies. 

The Marlins lineup has over-exceeded on their expectations in the early season, they’re 12th in the MLB in team batting average hitting .239 as a team. Miami is averaging a solid 4.5 runs per game, ranking 14th in the MLB in scoring average and left fielder Adam Duvall’s solid start to the year has been a big part of that. Duvall leads the Marlins in RBIs (10) and homeruns (4) while hitting .278. Center fielder Starling Marte is batting .326 from the leadoff sport and first baseman Jesus Aguilar is batting .333 with 6 RBIs in 11 games.

The Marlins find themselves in the bottom of the rotation and with injuries to some key rotation guys, they’ll hand the ball to Daniel Castano. He put together a solid rookie season in the shortened 2020 year, posting a 3.03 ERA in 7 starts. He isn’t going to strike a lot of guys out with just 12 punchouts in 29.2 innings but in his last start of last season pitched 6 and a third scoreless innings against the Yankees.