Shortstop Otto Lopez leads the majors in batting average, rookie catcher Joe Mack is coming off a 4-for-4 game, and Miami has won six of its past seven games.

In other words, this team is hot. And the host Marlins will try to clinch their third straight series on Wednesday night when they take on the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“Joe Mack — what a day,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said after Miami defeated Arizona 10-6 on Tuesday in the series opener. “Otto continues to come through.”

As to McCullough’s first point, Mack, 23, became the youngest Marlins catcher ever to have a four-hit game.

“I’m trying to stay short,” Mack said of his swing.

Meanwhile, Lopez is batting .341 after hitting .246 last season, and McCullough said he should be an All-Star.

“He’s making a strong case every day,” McCullough said. “Otto has been a hitting machine since Day 1 of the season, and he’s played high-level defense. It’s hard to find someone at that position having a better year.”

The Marlins, who had 15 hits on Tuesday, will try to provide right-hander Ryan Gusto (0-1, 10.80 ERA) with similar production.

Gusto, 27, has pitched most of this season at Triple-A Jacksonville, going 4-2 with a 3.83 ERA, and he might be limited to roughly 50 pitches on Wednesday. He has never faced Arizona, and this will be just his second MLB start this season.

Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will start right-hander Ryne Nelson (2-4, 4.60 ERA), who has faced the Marlins just once and has no decisions and a 1.50 ERA. He allowed just one run in six innings in a 3-2 loss on April 15, 2023.

This season, Arizona is 5-8 when starting Nelson, who has been solid with the exception of a disastrous start against Toronto on April 19. He got just one out in that game, allowing eight runs in a 10-4 loss.

Since then, Nelson posted a 2.95 ERA in six May starts. And, in June, he has a 2.57 ERA in one start.

But Nelson promises he won’t let down.

“The moment you get comfortable,” Nelson told MLB.com, “that’s when you can slip.”

Nelson on Wednesday hopes to get support from an Arizona lineup that features two-time All-Star right fielder Corbin Carroll (.930 OPS) and three-time All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte (.755 OPS).

Carroll, the 2023 National League Rookie of the Year, hit his 11th homer of the season on Tuesday.

Gabriel Moreno, considered one of the best all-around catchers in baseball, also homered on Tuesday. He has a .764 OPS and five homers — just four short of his career high. His issue has always been that he is regarded as injury prone.

As for the left side of Arizona’s infield, third baseman Nolan Arenado (.771 OPS) and shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (.702 OPS) have been solid this season.

Perdomo broke out last season with career highs in doubles (33), triples (five), homers (20), RBIs (100), steals (27) and OPS (.851).

–Field Level Media

As Shohei Ohtani continues his attack on the record books, he will take the mound for the 11th time this season when the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

Ohtani (6-2, 0.74 ERA) will oppose fellow right-hander Jared Jones (1-0, 4.82) of the Pirates as he continues not only his chase of a third consecutive National League MVP, but perhaps his first Cy Young Award.

Ohtani next will try to continue one of the best starts by any pitcher in major league history. His ERA is the third-best through the first 10 starts of a season, behind only Jacob deGrom (0.56 in 2021) and Juan Marichal (0.59 in 1966) since earned runs became a stat in 1913, according to MLB.com.

In his most recent start, Ohtani threw six shutout innings, allowing two hits and one walk with six strikeouts, in a 7-0 win over Arizona last Wednesday. And his success on the mound has had no ill effects on his performance at the plate, as Ohtani is hitting .411 since May 12. His batting average has risen from .233 to .301.

Ohtani reached base five times in the Arizona game, joining Hod Eller (1920), Mel Parnell (1951) and Mel Stottlemyre (1964) as the only players who have done that and pitched six or more scoreless innings in the same game since 1900.

“I think a lot of starting pitchers, you feel your way into a game and you give up a couple early and you bear down,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But I’ve noticed with Shohei, every run is a premium. He’s literally trying to throw a shutout every time he goes out there, where I don’t know if every starter has that mindset.”

Ohtani’s lone career start against the Pirates didn’t go well, though. He gave up five runs on six hits, including four home runs, despite striking out nine on July 21, 2023, as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.

The Pirates could use a similar performance in Ohtani’s PNC Park pitching debut as they try to snap a four-game skid.

Pittsburgh is banged-up, with center fielder Oneil Cruz dealing with a left hand laceration and rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin sidelined by a right forearm strain.

Griffin said to reporters on Tuesday that he was told by a doctor not to throw for two full weeks. According to Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates’ director of sports medicine, there’s no concern about Griffin needing surgery.

Pittsburgh’s bullpen continues to struggle after three relievers combined to allow 10 runs in the seventh inning on Tuesday night in a 12-3 loss to the Dodgers.

Jones will make his third start since returning from a 20-month absence due to elbow surgery. He bounced back from a rough first outing on May 29 by pitching five shutout innings and allowing four hits and two walks while striking out four last Thursday in a 5-1 win at Houston.

Jones pitched six shutout innings and allowed only three hits in his lone career start against the Dodgers — a 1-0 win — on June 4, 2024.

Jones, who grew up in Los Angeles County and attended Dodgers games, said recently that he was excited to face Ohtani.

“He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball this year, so it’ll be a fun matchup,” Jones said.

In a move on Tuesday, the Pirates traded right-handed pitcher Carson Fulmer to the Seattle Mariners for cash considerations.

–Field Level Media

Jac Caglianone has been a key factor in fueling the Kansas City Royals’ successful start to June.

He also continues to fare well against the Texas Rangers.

After powering the Royals to a series-opening triumph over the visiting Rangers, Caglianone will look to help his team record a fourth straight victory on Wednesday night.

Kansas City entered June with a 22-37 record, and averaged 2.9 runs while losing 16 of its final 19 games in May. However, the Royals have averaged 5.3 runs and clubbed 10 homers while 6-2 in June.

“A lot of confidence, I think we’re not kind of letting previous days drag on into the next,” Caglianone told Royals.TV.

“Each day’s a new day. There’s plenty of new opportunities.”

Caglianone, the highly touted outfielder still trying to find his rhythm in his first full MLB season, was batting .236 as the calendar turned to June. Following a two-homer night that helped Kansas City overcome a 2-0 hole and win 5-3 over Texas on Tuesday, Caglianone is 10-for-21 with three home runs and seven RBIs in seven games this month.

He’s batting .348 in six career games versus Texas. Both of his two-home run games have come against the Rangers.

Caglianone, however, went 0-for-2 with a strikeout on May 29 against scheduled Texas starter MacKenzie Gore (4-5, 4.23 ERA), who was stellar against the Royals, allowing four hits and a walk over 6 1/3 scoreless innings of his team’s 9-1 victory. In two career starts versus Kansas City, the left-hander has yielded only one run over 13 1/3 innings for a 0.68 ERA.

However, Gore needs to rebound after he gave up four runs, nine hits and issued three first-inning walks over 4 2/3 of the Rangers’ 5-3 loss at St. Louis last week.

“It looked like maybe he was trying to overcook some of the balls to try to get a punchout, and then kind of left the balls up,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said.

Texas had won seven of nine prior to Tuesday’s defeat to close in on the .500 mark. The Rangers are 32-34 and haven’t hit .500 since they were 14-14 on April 26.

“Didn’t really think about (getting back to .500), just thinking about winning that first game of the series,” Schumaker, whose team went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday, told Rangers.TV.

Josh Jung had two more hits for the Rangers in the series opener, raising his batting average to .316. He’s 8-for-18 with four runs scored in four games versus Kansas City this season.

Jung homered off scheduled Royals starter Seth Lugo (2-4, 3.91 ERA) during Texas’ 7-6 win on May 30.

Lugo recorded three straight quality starts, including that outing at Texas, in which he gave up three runs (one earned) and six hits while striking out six in six innings. However, that run ended Thursday, when the veteran right-hander yielded five earned runs and six hits, including three homers, over five innings of Kansas City’s 8-6 win at Minnesota.

Though the Rangers rallied to beat the Royals in Lugo’s most recent appearance against them, he’s 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA in fgur career appearances (three starts) against Texas.

–Field Level Media