Nothing was working for Otto Lopez at the plate on Wednesday as he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against the San Diego Padres. In the very next game, Friday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers, he was the offensive star. Lopez cleared the bases with a double in the seventh inning to put the Miami Marlins ahead for good as they won by a final score of 5-1 in front of a soldout crowd at American Family Field.

Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta gave his team five innings of one-run ball, only surrendering a home run to Kyle Stowers in the top of the third inning. He walked two and struck out nine.

Milwaukee’s relievers were not as effective. Lefty Aaron Ashby and righty Nick Mears combined to load the bases in the top of the seventh of a 1-1 game. That set up a high-leverage situation for Lopez, who had slashed .317/.423/.567/.989 under those circumstances going into Friday. He came through again, giving the Marlins a 4-1 lead.

“I think they were just really high quality at-bats with people not trying to do too much,” said manager Clayton McCullough. “You love when you get some opportunities early to break through. Freddy (Peralta) is a tough pitcher and we just continued to try to build innings and stay disciplined.”

After his clutch hit, Lopez advanced to third base on an error. Liam Hicks drove him on a sac fly, making it 5-1.

Cal Quantrill matched Peralta and went five innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and striking out four. He surrendered a solo homer to Jackson Chourio in the bottom of the fourth inning. For a second consecutive start, he didn’t walk an opposing hitter. His first-pitch strike rate was 72.2%.

Quantrill’s cutter continues to be his best pitch, generating three whiffs and an average exit velo of 85.2 mph. He used it to strike out Joey Ortiz in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“Cal has been throwing the ball well for the last couple of months,” said McCullough. “I think he’s done an excellent job of using his cutter both sides. Threw a couple good sliders today and his split-finger. Showed enough of the four-seam and the sinker and the ability to go both sides of the plate. I think that’s what he’s continually done and can very efficient pounding the strike zone, getting the ball off the barrel of the bat.”

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McCullough took Quantrill out with only 65 pitches thrown, his second-lowest pitch count of the season.

“I think it’s where we were in that game, getting back towards the top [of the order]…Coming off an off day, we had different directions we could go and thought that what we got from Cal today was what we needed,” McCullough said.

Quantrill is the only pending free agent on the Marlins. Sources tell Fish On First that the team is very open to trading him ahead of the July 31 trade deadline.

With the win, the Marlins are now 49-53, just four games under .500 and 5.5 games out of a NL Wild Card spot. Janson Junk will take the mound for the Fish as they aim for their fourth straight series win. First pitch is at 7:10 pm.