DENVER — In the rubber game of their series Sunday Oren Burks Color Rush Jersey , the Miami Marlins for the third straight game will start a pitcher against the Colorado Rockies who has never taken the mound at Coors Field.

The Marlins’ hope is that left-hander Caleb Smith (5-6, 4.03 ERA) replicates the effort of Trevor Richards and not Wei-Yin Chen.

The latter wasn’t hit hard Friday night but gave up nine hits and seven runs in four innings, and the Rockies romped 11-3. On Saturday, Richards allowed three hits and one run in six innings in Miami’s 6-2 victory.

Smith received a no-decision Monday at San Francisco, allowing four runs and six hits and throwing 88 pitches in four innings in Miami’s 5-4 victory. Smith allowed two hits and one walk in seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts in his only start against the Rockies on April 29 in Miami.

Smith has limited opponents to a .221 average and in 76 innings has allowed 62 hits with 87 strikeouts and 32 walks.

“He’s been pretty good,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Smith, who turns 27 next month and was acquired in a November deal with the New York Yankees. “He’s been a nice surprise for us. He’s a guy with a lot of swing-and-miss without having huge velocity. But they don’t see the ball that well.

“He’s got a good little breaking ball. He’s got a good changeup. And everything works off his fastball. He’s not really a young, young guy. He’s a guy that’s been a little bit more polished, a guy that we’re really more willing to just keep putting him in there, not worrying about his innings (limit) or things like that. Early in the year, we were trying to find out is he a reliever, is he a starter, but he’s been pretty solid for us out of the rotation.”

German Marquez (5-7, 5.20) will start for the Rockies. He won for the first time in four starts Tuesday against the New York Mets when he gave up four runs in six innings in Colorado’s 10-8 victory. He’s 0-2 with a 5.23 ERA in two starts against the Marlins, including April 28 when he gave up three runs (one earned) in six innings in Colorado’s 4-1 loss.

The Rockies are 7-8 in starts by Marquez, who is 2-4 with a 7.45 ERA in eight starts at Coors Field this season.

The Marlins broke a three-game losing streak Saturday and are 4-4 on a three-city road trip that ends Sunday. They scored at least six runs for the first time in a 10-game span, which they last accomplished June 11 in a 7-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

The Rockies had their four-game winning streak end Saturday as they dropped to 4-2 on a homestand that ends Sunday. Bryan Shaw gave up a grand slam in the seventh inning to J.T. Realmuto, a line drive that just cleared the wall in right field and put the Marlins ahead 6-1.

It was the career-high-tying eighth home run Shaw has allowed this season and the first grand slam he has yielded.

In a major-league leading 41 appearances, Shaw has a 7.57 ERA. He has been scored upon in 11 of his past 16 appearances, a stretch in which he has a 13.15 ERA in 13 innings while allowing 29 hits, including five homers.

A free agent after last season, Shaw signed a three-year, $27 million contract with the Rockies Michael Palardy Jersey , who envisioned him working in a setup role. That may be changing.

Scott Obert (back strain) and Mike Dunn (rhomboid strain) are scheduled to make rehab appearances Saturday and Monday and if all goes well, they will join the Rockies on Tuesday in San Francisco and be activated the following day. That would pave the way for Shaw to pitch earlier in the game in lower-leveraged situations.

“We might have to take a step back with Bryan going forward, if we get some of our guys back,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

DENVER — Two left-handers who have been very successful lately will square off Thursday when Kyle Freeland starts for the Colorado Rockies against Steven Matz of the New York Mets.

The Rockies will be looking to win the four-game series after winning their second straight game over the Mets 10-8 on Wednesday. Colorado will also be trying to avoid a dubious major league record. The Rockies have allowed at least eight runs in each of their past nine home games, tied with the St. Louis Browns in 1894 for the longest such streak.

Freeland (6-6, 3.59 ERA) has made 14 starts, half of which the Rockies have won. He worked a season-high seven innings for the fourth time this season in his last start Saturday at Texas. Freeland allowed two runs in seven innings, ending up with no-decision in Colorado’s 5-2 loss.

In his past 10 starts, Freeland, 25, is 6-3 with a 2.89 ERA and has limited opposing hitters to a .237 average and a .646 OPS in that stretch. He’s 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in two career games (one start) against the Mets. The start was on May 6 at Citi Field this season when Freeland, the winning pitcher, allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and one walk in Colorado’s 3-2 victory.

In eight starts at Coors Field this season, Freeland is 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA. A Denver native who grew up pitching in the city’s mile-high altitude, Freeland is 9-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 24 career games (21 starts) at Coors Field and has never been fazed by the hitter-friendly ballpark.

“In my mind, it’s baseball,” Freeland said. “You have to make your pitches, no matter where you’re at. Home runs are going to be home runs. People are going to hit good pitches here. People are going to hit bad pitches here. If you don’t execute the pitch and they get whacked out of the park, it’s going to happen here; it’s going to happen at sea level.

“Things can snowball on you quicker here just because of how large our outfield is. But you still have to have that mentality of I can get out of this jam here.”

While winning his last start, Matz (3-4, 3.31) gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings Saturday at Arizona in the Mets’ 5-1 triumph. Matz lost 2-0 to the Rockies at Citi Field on May 5, giving up one run and three hits in six innings. He’s 0-3, 6.50 in four career starts against the Rockies and 0-0 Youth Chris Herndon Jersey , 5.40 in one start at Coors Field.

In his past five starts, Matz, 27, is 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA. During that stretch, Matz has allowed two or fewer runs in four of the five outings, and opposing batters are hitting .208 with a .609 OPS.

“He’s in a good place mentally,” New York pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “He’s in attack mode, where he’s attacking the hitters. Early in the year, he was a little bit unsure of himself, not really trusting his stuff as much. So therefore, he wasn’t in attack mode. And when the first little thing would go wrong … he would kind of lose his concentration, his focus, and it would affect the next few pitches and might make the difference in his outing.

“He’s worked really hard at letting things go that are out of his control and just focusing on things he can control. And once he started doing it, he got back to believing in himself, trusting his stuff, attacking the strike zone, attacking the hitters.”

At this point after nearly a month of superb pitching, Matz has a reservoir of success to draw upon when things do go wrong.

“I’m sure it still eats at him a little bit,” Eiland said, “but he doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve, so to speak.”