Struggling For Victories, Marlins Trip Moves Into Oakland
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OAKLAND (CBSMiami/Gracenote) – The elite teams around Major League Baseball are starting to become known as the season moves towards June.
The same can be said for ballclubs on the other side of the spectrum.
The Miami Marlins are tied for the fewest wins in the majors and managed just four victories so far in May while struggling to find consistent offense.
The Marlins will try to string some hits together when they continue a west coast trip by visiting the Oakland Athletics in the opener of a two-game interleague series on Tuesday.
Miami rolled to a 10-6 win at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday but fell right back down with a 6-3 loss on Sunday to mark the eighth time in the last nine games that the offense scored three or fewer runs.
Slugger Giancarlo Stanton is homerless in that span and went hitless in four at-bats on Sunday after contributing three doubles and three RBIs to the 10-run barrage the previous day.
The Athletics took three out of four from the Boston Red Sox over the weekend and are getting surprising power from second baseman Chad Pinder, who went deep in three of the four games and totaled six RBIs in the series.
Trying to slow Pinder for the Marlins will be right-hander Jose Urena while Oakland sends righty Jesse Hahn to the mound.
TV: 10:05 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Miami), CSN California (Oakland)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Jose Urena (1-2, 1.91 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Jesse Hahn (1-3, 3.02)
Urena has yet to allow more than two earned runs since moving into the rotation on May 7 but suffered the loss in each of his last two turns.
The Dominican Republic native allowed three runs - one earned - and six hits in 5 2/3 innings against Houston on Wednesday but came out on the wrong end of a 3-0 final score.
Urena yielded only one home run in his first three starts and will be seeing Oakland for the first time in his career.
Hahn isn't getting much help from his offense either and is winless in his last five turns despite surrendering three earned runs or fewer in each of those outings.
The Virginia Tech product could not even get the win when he yielded one hit in eight scoreless innings on April 25 at the Los Angeles Angels.
Hahn, who is seeing Miami for the first time, did not fare as well at Seattle on Wednesday, when he allowed three earned runs in five innings and absorbed a loss.
WALK-OFFS
- Athletics 1B Yonder Alonso (knee soreness) did not start any of the last four games but is expected to return on Tuesday.
- Miami CF Christian Yelich is 1-for-19 with seven strikeouts in his last six contests.
- Oakland SS Adam Rosales is 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts in his last five games.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Gracenote contributed to this report.)