MIAMI — San Francisco Giants rookie left-hander Andrew Suarez will celebrate a homecoming on Wednesday night when he faces the Miami Marlins for the first time.

Suarez Phil Haynes Jersey , who was a local star at Columbus High as well as the University of Miami, said he will try to approach the game as a business trip.

“I will probably cherish the moment while I’m warming up,” Suarez told the Sun-Sentinel. “But once I step on the mound, it’s game time.”

The 25-year-old is 2-4 with a 5.06 ERA in nine starts this season. His slider eats up lefty batters, holding them to a .208 batting average with one homer and a .562 OPS. Righty batters are hitting .303 with seven homers and an .870 OPS, however.

Suarez was the Giants’ second-round pick in 2015. He started this season as the Giants’ No. 10 prospect overall and No. 2 among lefties. Some scouts had projected him as a two-pitch reliever with his fastball-slider mix. But, largely due to injuries to Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, Suarez is getting his shot in the rotation.

So far, the Giants are 3-6 when Suarez starts, but they have won two in a row with him on the mound.

Suarez has two quality starts this year — both of them at home. In five road starts this year, Suarez is 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA.

The Marlins will counter Suarez with another rookie left-hander, Caleb Smith (5-6 Ugo Amadi Jersey , 3.70 ERA), who made his major league debut last year on July 17 with the New York Yankees.

This will be the 16th major league start for Smith, 26, who leads National League rookies with 79 strikeouts. In his 13 starts this season, he is averaging 10.8 strikeouts per nine innings, which is improved from his 8.7 stat line of 2017. His walk rate of 4.1 is high but yet improved from his 4.8 figure of last year.

But perhaps the biggest improvement for Smith has been cutting his hits per nine innings from 10.1 to 6.6.

The Marlins are 6-7 when they hand the ball to Smith, who has four quality starts this season. In addition, the Marlins have won three of the past four Smith starts. Smith has pitched well at Marlins Park, going 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in six starts. That compares well to his 3-4, 4.41 mark on the road.

Over his past seven starts, Smith — who has never faced the Giants — is 4-3 with a 3.16 ERA.

Neither Suarez (92.1 mph) or Smith (92.7 mph) is overpowering in terms of their average velocity. But Suarez, with plus control and a plus slider, distinguished himself in the minors Dwayne Haskins Jersey , going 10-10 with a 3.21 ERA last year between Double A and Triple A.

That success helped earn him a shot at the majors, and now he gets to pitch in front of his home crowd.

“Being able to pitch against the Marlins should be fun,” Suarez said. “I’ve been watching the Marlins since I was little.”

Suarez will be trying to stop the Giants’ two-game losing streak. Miami has won the first two games of this series, including Tuesday’s 3-1 victory in which four Marlins pitchers held the Giants to three hits.

Marlins shortstop JT Riddle had the go-ahead hit, a two-run double, and second baseman Starlin Castro went 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford, who entered this series red hot, has gone 0-for-6 with two RBIs in the two games. He is still hitting an impressive .329.

Francisco Lindor had an exceptional Monday after a very good Sunday.

Lindor homered twice, including a grand slam, and finished with a career-high seven RBIs as the Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 9-3 on Monday night.

On Sunday, he had two doubles and a solo homer in Oakland.

Lindor homered in the fourth after Yan Gomes singled and Jakob Junis hit Tyler Naquin and Rajai Davis with pitches. He added a three-run homer in the sixth to finish Junis’ evening.

”One was a changeup and the other one was a slider,” said Lindor, who has 23 home runs. ”My approach is hit the ball and if it goes out it goes out. It was a good pitch to hit (on the grand slam). I was just trying to get one guy in. I’m not a power hitter. Just get a good pitch to hit and drive it.”

Lindor has 17 home runs and 54 RBIs in 54 games against the Royals.

”Just a routine day for him D.K. Metcalf Jersey , today and yesterday,” Indians starter Corey Kluber said. ”He continues to get better, which is kind of scary.”

Kluber (12-4), who failed to make it out of the second inning in his previous start at St. Louis, gave up two runs in the first, but little after that. He allowed three runs and seven hits, walked none and struck out five over six innings.

Davis had three hits and scored three runs.

”I got myself into trouble with a couple of hit batters and good teams are going to take advantage of that,” Junis said.

Junis (5-10) has lost his last seven starts and is tied with teammate Jason Hammel for most losses in the American League. He has yielded a major league-high 24 home runs, including 12 in his last five starts over 27 innings.

”You worry about his confidence more than anything else,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. ”Again, it’s an easy fix. When you’re off the side of the slider, it’s gonna be a cement mixer. He started off good, just didn’t end that good.”

Whit Merrifield homered on Kluber’s third pitch for his fourth career leadoff home run. Salvador Perez singled home Mike Moustakas http://www.seahawksauthorizedshops.com/authentic-cody-barton-jersey , who had doubled, in an 11-pitch at-bat for the other Kansas City run in the first.

Jorge Bonifacio logged his first RBI of the season in the Kansas City sixth after being suspended the first 80 games for taking a performance enhancing drug.

The Royals have lost 23 of their last 28 games. They are tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the most losses in the majors with 54. They scored four runs or fewer for the 23rd time in the last 24 games.

ROYALS SIGN FIRST-ROUND PICK

The Royals signed right-hander Jackson Kowar, a first-round compensation selection and the 33rd overall pick, to a $2.118.700 signing bonus. He went 10-5 with a 3.04 ERA as a Florida junior.

GOODBYE LEBRON

LeBron James has left the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Los Angeles Lakers. ”If someone gave me $154 million I’d probably go somewhere too,” Indians manager Terry Francona said. ”He did what he said he was going to do. He got them a championship. When you’re a free agent, you’ve earned that right. I will miss him, because I loved going to games when he played. It’s hard to begrudge somebody. He earned it.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Indians: RF Lonnie Chisenhall was a late scratch with a strained left calf. Francona said Chisenhall would definitely go on the disabled list. … RHP Danny Salazar underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in Dallas. ”It just kind of came to a point,” Francona said. ”That’s the last option. You try everything else before you go into somebody’s shoulder. The good side is there was no structural (damage). The rotator cuff was good. They cleaned him out. It’s a shame we lost him for the whole year.”

UP NEXT

Indians: RHP Shane Bieber is 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA in his first four big league starts.

Royals: LHP Danny Duffy is winless in six home starts this season, going 0-3 with a 6.32 ERA.

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