Miami Marlins right-hander Max Meyer’s emergence this season is not surprising in one sense — but it’s very surprising in another.

Meyer, who is set to start against the visiting San Francisco Giants on Saturday afternoon, is having an All-Star-type season with a 7-0 record and a 2.75 ERA.

That kind of performance is in line with Meyer’s draft pedigree — he was the third overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, and, at age 27, he’s in his prime.

However, the very surprising part is that Meyer is having an undefeated season after undergoing elbow surgery on Aug. 9, 2022, and missing the entire 2023 season. Plus, he struggled in his first two years back (5.68 ERA in 2024, 4.73 ERA last year).

Yet the Marlins are 11-4 when he starts this season, and Meyer has gotten better every month in terms of his ERA — 2.88 in April; 2.70 in May; and 1.96 this month.

“It’s cool to think about how far I’ve come,” Meyer told MLB Network.

He’s also thrown five solid innings without a decision in his only start against the Giants, on April 26, when he gave up one run (unearned) and four hits in his team’s 6-3 loss.

But Meyer isn’t the Marlins’ only big story. Miami posted a 4-3 victory over San Francisco on Friday to improve to 12-4 in June. That’s the best record in the majors this month.

The Marlins also pulled their overall record even at 38-38, and they could be getting help off the injured list any day now. Corner outfielder Griffin Conine, who had a .951 OPS in 11 games before tearing his left hamstring on April 9, homered on Thursday in Triple-A Jacksonville.

Starting pitcher Eury Perez, who had a 3.15 ERA in his age-20 season in 2023, began a rehab assignment on Thursday, throwing 51 pitches at Jacksonville. Perez could be a big boost to a rotation that is thin behind Meyer and Sandy Alcantara.

Meanwhile, the Giants are set to start right-hander Trevor McDonald (2-4, 4.64 ERA) on Saturday. McDonald, who has never faced the Marlins, is 0-4 with one no-decision over his past five starts.

He features a sinker that averages 94 mph, and he throws it about 57% of the time. His two main breaking pitches are his slider (28.5% usage) and his changeup (13%).

The Giants rank second in the majors in batting average (.258) and sixth in slugging percentage (.420) yet just 21st in runs (313).

One big plus for San Francisco has been the play of rookie Bryce Eldridge, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound first baseman. A first-round pick in 2023, Eldridge hit 25 homers in 102 minor-league games last year and has gone deep six times with the Giants this season.

San Francisco, which had a three-game winning streak snapped on Friday, hopes on Saturday to take advantage of a tired Marlins bullpen; Miami used eight pitchers during Friday’s game.

Overall, Giants manager Tony Vitello said he feels good about his squad despite the fact that it is 13 games under .500.

“Maybe I’m feeling overly positive,” Vitello said on Friday afternoon, before San Francisco’s loss, “but I think we’ve had momentum from the Cubs series (June 12-14; a win in the finale) and even before that.”

–Field Level Media

Paul Skenes has dominated the Colorado Rockies in his home park, but his one start in Denver didn’t go as well.

The Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander has made one start at Coors Field when he allowed four runs in five innings on Aug. 2, 2025 in a game Colorado won, 8-5.

Skenes (6-6, 2.85 ERA) gets another shot in Denver when he takes the mound Saturday night in the second contest of a three-game series against the Rockies.

Colorado counters with its best starter this season, Tomoyuki Sugano (7-4, 4.79).

The Rockies took the opener on Friday night, 4-3, holding on after Pittsburgh loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning.

Skenes is facing Colorado for the fourth time in his short career and is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in those outings. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning his last start against the Rockies, a 3-1 Pirates win in Pittsburgh on May 12.

Mickey Moniak broke up the no-hit bid with a one-out hit that night and Skenes left after eight shutout innings. It marked the last time he pitched beyond the sixth inning this season – or earned a win. The two-time All-Star lost his next three starts, and he has been victimized by little run support and a faltering bullpen in his three June outings.

He has allowed five earned runs this month but is 0-1 with a 2.70 ERA. In his last start, against Miami on Sunday, he matched a season high with 10 strikeouts over six innings but was tagged with the loss after giving up two solo homers.

His teammates managed to put across just two runs in a 4-2 loss.

“It’s baseball,” Skenes said after the game. “I’ve dealt with it before. It’s a team sport. It’s just the nature of the game.”

Sugano, meanwhile, has received plenty of run support in June. He has won all three of his starts this month despite posting a 6.60 ERA and allowing eight runs – six earned – Sunday against the Athletics in Las Vegas.

He benefited from Colorado’s franchise-record 23 runs in the victory but he will likely have to pitch better with Skenes going for the Pirates. It will also be his first time facing Pittsburgh in his two-year major league career.

It will also be the first time a few Rockies’ players will see the Pirates. Recent call-ups Cole Carrigg and Sterlin Thompson are part of Colorado’s youth movement and each has made an impact in a small sample size.

Thompson hit his first two big-league homers in one game against the Chicago Cubs this week and Carrigg had three home runs in his first 36 at-bats and has flashed some impressive defense. He made a running catch into the ivy at Wrigley Field in Tuesday night’s 5-2 win, saving a run.

“It felt like brick – it was definitely pretty hard, not much cushion with the ivy,” Carrigg said after the game. “That’s a good highlight, for sure. Making a catch in the ivy is pretty cool.”

-Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Rays are glad to be back in their domed home, where they win much more often than not, and it helps to get run-producer Jonathan Aranda swinging well again.

A night after Aranda poked an opposite-field, three-run homer off the left-field foul pole early in a 5-2 victory over Washington, the Rays will face the Nationals again on Saturday afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Trailing 2-0 in the third inning of Friday’s series opener, Aranda drove in three runs with one swing, moving him to 51 RBI, just eight from tying his career high set last season during an All-Star campaign.

“It was a key at-bat,” Aranda said through a translator of the go-ahead shot. “I was really focused in the moment. Just trying to stay mentally strong and help my teammates out in any possible ways.

“Happy to help get us back in the win column and happy to be back at home. The fans do a lot for us.”

Added manager Kevin Cash after the victory: “We haven’t had an (important) swing like that in a while.”

Winning pitcher Griffin Jax tossed five innings and echoed Aranda’s thoughts on the dome, saying, “This is our home. This is home field, and we have such an advantage playing here.”

The home-field advantage is real.

The American League East squad improved to a majors-best 25-9 at home, the only team still sporting single digits in losses and the first AL club to reach 25 victories in its park.

Reliever Ian Seymour (3-0, 4.93 ERA) will start Saturday for the third time for the Rays. He is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in one career start vs. Washington, a five-inning outing in a 7-4 win over them Aug. 31 in Washington.

On Friday, the Nationals got solo home runs from CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr., but one of the surprise teams in the National League managed only six hits.

“Not missing the pitch to hit,” Abrams said of the importance of pitch selection. “Don’t get too many of them, so don’t miss the ones that are in the middle.”

Entering this three-game series, Cash said it was important to be “mindful” of his team not letting the visitors get on base, create plenty of traffic and run wild.

In addition to just six hits, Washington’s batters did not work one walk off Tampa Bay pitching — stymieing the Nationals’ speed and prolific offense for the most part.

Nasim Nunez did record his NL-best 27th steal, but little basepath traffic took place under the dome.

Washington manager Blake Butera gave credit to the home side’s bullpen, which did not allow a run in four innings, including a perfect ninth from closer Bryan Baker for his 19th save.

“Just really good arms and different angles and different stuff,” said Butera. “They threw a bunch at us … When they have a lead late in the game, it’s really hard to come back from that. We had a chance there, I thought, in the eighth, just couldn’t come through.”

Scratched on Friday morning after getting food poisoning, Cade Cavalli (4-4, 3.98 ERA) will make his first-ever outing against the Rays on Saturday.

The right-hander has won three of his past five decisions dating to May 16.

–Field Level Media