Advertisement

Marlins welcome woeful Rangers to South Beach

The Miami Marlins are fighting to stay in the postseason hunt, and they host the Texas Rangers on Tuesday night in the opener of a brief two-game interleague set at Marlins Park.

Miami began the day eight games off the pace in the National League East and 3 1/2 games behind San Francisco for the NL's second wild card spot. The Marlins improved to 5-2 on their current homestand after taking three of four from the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend.

Advertisement

All-Star slugger Giancarlo Stanton continued his recent tear in Sunday's 10-3 victory with four RBI, three of which came on a first-inning home run that staked Miami an early lead. Starter Tom Koehler was the beneficiary of that early run production as he went on to allow two runs over six innings with seven strikeouts to earn his ninth win.

Advertisement

Stanton is batting .407 (11-of-27) with four homers and 10 RBI over his last eight games.

For the second year in a row, there will be no October baseball for a Texas Rangers team that won the AL pennant in two of the previous three seasons. The Rangers were idle on Monday, a day after they snapped a four-game slide with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Through eight innings, it appeared as if the Rangers were headed for yet another loss. But in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Rios, Adrian Beltre and Mike Carp all singled with no outs to tie the game, and then Adam Rosales finished it with a walk-off single off newly-acquired Angels closer Huston Street.

"We were able to cash it in," manager Ron Washington said. "We were able to get the big hit at the right time."

Washington will turn to Miles Mikolas to start Tuesday's game. The right- hander is just 1-5 with a 7.71 ERA in eight starts for Texas this season. Most recently, he allowed 10 earned runs in six innings against Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

"I know I'm up here kind of on an audition basis for next year," Mikolas said. "They've got a lot of guys coming back, so I want to make as good an impression as I can. ? I've had my ups and downs, gave up a few runs last time out, but I thought I did a good job managing my pitch count and still getting us into the seventh."

Advertisement

Jarred Cosart will make his third start for Miami since being traded from Houston at the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. After skipping his previously scheduled start with lower back stiffness, Cosart got the best of NL wins co-leader Adam Wainwright in a 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals last Tuesday. The right-hander twirled seven scoreless innings and allowed just three hits.

"I feel like I needed that (victory) now that the nerves have subsided a little bit and I feel like I'm part of the team," Cosart said. "Ready to keep building on that."

This marks the Rangers' first-ever trip to Marlins Park. The teams split a two-game set at Globe Life Park back in June.

Vidal Nuno will make his seventh start with the D-backs since coming over via trade with the Yankees and is 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in six starts. Nuno allowed five runs in four innings of a 6-2 loss to Kansas City last Thursday and the D-backs have lost all of his six outings.

The left-handed Nuno won his only career start against the Indians, tossing five shutout innings of three-hit ball.

Arizona split two games with the Indians at home back in June.

Advertisement

[SportsNetwork.com]

Latest Headlines