The Miami Marlins will be heading into uncharted waters when they open a three-game series against the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.

The Marlins have lost a franchise-record 12 consecutive games, setting the new mark with a 5-3 loss to the visiting San Diego Padres on Sunday.

Miami blew a two-run lead with six outs to go in its latest setback.

“Nobody’s more frustrated than we are,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “Every day, they’re coming in here, attacking each day their best to come out there and win. And we just haven’t got that done. So it’s certainly not been from a lack of preparation and effort. We just aren’t winning enough moments within games to end this right now.”

For the first time in more than three years, the Marlins were 10 games above .500 following an 8-4 win against the visiting Seattle Mariners on July 9. They were then swept by the Cleveland Guardians in a three-game series before the All-Star break and haven’t won since, going 0-9.

“Does anybody feel good? Certainly not, but to come in here each day and cry about it, make excuses. I don’t know what that’s going to do,” McCullough said. “I think we have a very prideful group that is certainly upset, frustrated, angry about how things are going, but we’re the only ones that can change that. And so I think that’s where you turn it around and come back (Monday), and it’s going to be staring at us again.”

Making matters even more difficult is the Marlins will be up against veteran right-hander Zack Wheeler on Monday.

The three-time All Star is 14-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 28 career appearances (all starts) against the Marlins. He has beaten them twice already this season, holding them to one run over six innings in a 6-5 win on May 1 in Miami, and throwing six shutout innings in a 7-0 win on June 15 in Philadelphia.

Wheeler (10-2, 2.16 ERA) is coming off a rare loss in his most recent outing, giving up just two runs over seven innings last Tuesday against the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, but getting out-dueled by Justin Wrobleski in the 2-1 loss.

“It’s a long season, tons of starts,” Wheeler said. “You’ve got to pick your battles and just try to go out there and do well every time.”

Wheeler has 43 strikeouts and just three walks in 24 2/3 innings over his four starts this month.

“Maybe my strikeout numbers aren’t what they have been in my career per game, so I do see that and I wanted to get that back up,” he said. “Maybe with two strikes, I make a little more concerted effort to punch a guy out or take care of the pitch a little bit better maybe so they don’t put it in play.”

Miami plans to send Tyler Phillips to the mound for the series opener on Monday.

Phillips (2-5, 3.52) took the loss after giving up two runs as a first-inning opener on July 12 against the Guardians in a 5-2 setback. He was extended out to 4 1/3 innings in his most recent start last Tuesday, but also took the loss after surrendering three runs (two earned) in the 5-3 defeat against the host Houston Astros.

The right-hander has made seven appearances against the Phillies in his career, including two starts. He is 0-1 with a 5.93 ERA in those games.

–Field Level Media

David Peterson has been a welcome addition to the Chicago Cubs’ rotation. In three of his four starts since he was acquired in a trade from the New York Mets on June 25, the left-hander has held opponents to two runs or fewer.

He won two of those three, including his most recent appearance — an 11-2 triumph against the visiting Detroit Tigers last Tuesday. He didn’t allow a run and struck out four in 6 2/3 innings, his longest outing of the season.

That other start, however, was rough for Peterson (5-7, 5.97 ERA), who surrendered 10 runs on nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings of a 17-1 home loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on July 3. It’s one he’ll look to avenge when he gets the start against them in the opener Monday of a four-game set in St. Louis.

“I wasn’t really able to get those groundballs,” Peterson said after that game. “Part of it is there were probably some pitches that I left a little too much up in the zone. (The Cardinals) put some good at-bats together and some good swings on some balls.”

That outing put Peterson at 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in three career appearances (two starts) against the Cardinals, allowing 19 runs on 23 hits in 12 2/3 innings.

The 30-year-old is just one addition of what could be more to come for the Cubs with the Aug. 3 trade deadline one week away.

“I love this team,” Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said Saturday. “If we go get pieces, that’s only going to help us because of the way that we’re playing and what we’re capable of as this current clubhouse. There are a lot of big things that we can achieve with this group.”

Chicago holds a lead of 4 1/2 games as the first wild card in the National League after an 8-7 road loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday. The Cubs are 25-12 since June 11 and entered Sunday with more runs (226), more walks drawn (161) and having reached base at a higher clip (.351) than any other team in the league in that span.

The Cardinals, meanwhile, enter the series against their NL Central Division rivals looking to snap out of a slump that’s seen them drop seven of their 10 games coming out of the All-Star break.

They’ve lost three straight series after winning three of their previous four series heading into the pause. The Cardinals find themselves a game and a half behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final NL wild-card spot, with two other teams between them.

Their most recent setback came Sunday at home, a 5-3 extra-innings defeat to the Cincinnati Reds. St. Louis held a pair of one-run leads before giving up three runs in the top of the 10th inning.

“This game can humble you real quick,” said Cardinals pitcher Kyle Leahy, who struck out a career-high nine in his start Sunday. “I’m no stranger to that, so I don’t try to get too high on good outcomes. And you do a lot of your best learning in failure. So obviously, I don’t want failure, but yeah, you just try to stay as even keel as you can the whole time.”

As of Sunday evening, the Cardinals had not announced a starter for Monday’s game. Veteran left-hander Matthew Liberatore (5-7, 5.18) could be in line for the start. He pitched last Tuesday, surrendering five runs on nine hits and two walks with seven strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings in a 5-1 loss at the Los Angeles Angels.

Liberatore is 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA in 12 appearances (six starts) against the Cubs, including two games this season. He won a 5-1 decision with 5 1/3 scoreless innings at home on May 31, and he took a 6-4 setback in Chicago after giving up four runs (three earned) in five innings on July 5.

–Field Level Media

Max Scherzer will try to cool down red-hot CJ Abrams when the Toronto Blue Jays visit the Washington Nationals for the opener of a three-game series on Monday night.

Scherzer, who won a World Series with the Nationals in 2019, will come off the injured list and make the start on his 42nd birthday.

Abrams will look to continue his torrid run. In a 10-7 win against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, he went 3-for-5 with two homers, two runs scored and three RBIs.

Over his past seven games, Abrams is hitting .567 (17-for-30) with seven homers and 14 RBIs. He has 27 home runs overall, passing Ian Desmond (25 in 2012) for the most homers in a single season by a Nationals shortstop (2005-present).

“I’ve been swinging at better pitches,” Abrams said on Sunday. “Today, those were balls, but just swinging at better pitches and being more relaxed at the plate allows me to be more disciplined. Good things happen when I’m relaxed.”

Scherzer (1-4, 10.23 ERA) opposes left-hander Andrew Alvarez (2-3, 4.22) on Monday night. The veteran right-hander has made multiple trips to the injured list this season, the most recent for back spasms and a thumb issue. In a rehab start with Triple-A Buffalo last Wednesday he threw 56 pitches and struck out seven. He will be making his seventh start of the season.

Scherzer last pitched against Washington on July 28, 2023, throwing seven innings of one-run ball while striking out seven for the New York Mets to defeat the Nationals for the second time that season. The earlier game, on May 14, 2023 in Washington, was an 8-2 Mets victory.

Alvarez has worked as both a starter and reliever this season. Over his last three appearances, he is 0-2 with an 8.25 ERA. Last time out on July 20, he started against the host Colorado Rockies and gave up three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Both teams are in wild-card contention. Washington took two of three from Arizona over the weekend and is one game behind the Diamondbacks for the third wild card in the National League. Toronto is 5 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the final spot and has five teams between itself and the Guardians.

In addition to Abrams heroics on Sunday, James Wood also hit two homers, giving him 30 on the season.

The Nationals traded infielder Curtis Mead to the Boston Red Sox late Saturday for pitcher Connelly Early. Third baseman Brady House was called up from Triple-A Rochester on Sunday and went 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.

“I think I’m just trying to get to the point where no matter what kind of at-bat it is, that I’m looking to hit the ball hard,” House said after his first major league game since May 18.

Toronto dropped a 6-1 decision to the Boston Red Sox in the rubber game of their series on Sunday.

George Springer, 36, had two singles, giving him his fifth multi-hit game over his past seven.

“He’s swinging at good pitches and laying off some stuff he was just putting in play a couple of weeks ago,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “He has a good state of mind. He’s swinging the bat fast and he’s moving pretty well.”

–Field Level Media