Marlins Look For First Win In Cincinnati
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Miami Marlins have opened their brand new stadium, Thursday, they will look for their first win of the season on the road in Cincinnati.
The Marlins will send free agent acquisition Mark Buehrle to the mound for Thursday afternoon's game against the Reds. Buehrle was a workhorse for the Chicago White Sox, pitching at least 200 innings in every year since 2001.
Buehrle is making his first career start in the National League Thursday. Buehrle struggled a bit in spring training with a 6.62 ERA and finished just 1-1 over his four starts. Buehrle developed better control as spring went on, but he gave up 24hits in 17.2 innings pitched in spring ball.
The Marlins have to hope their bats finally wake up for the regular season as well. Wednesday night, Cardinals pitcher Kyle Lohse had a no-hitter into the seventh inning before finally giving up a hit to Miami shortstop Jose Reyes.
The Reds will send Johnny Cueto to the mound to oppose Buehrle. Cueto is 41-37 and has a 3.83 ERA during his MLB career. He's only in his fourth season and will look to head up the Reds' pitching staff in 2012.
The Reds hope Joey Votto can make a dent against Buehrle just one day after he agreed to a contract extension with the team that will add 10 years and $225 million to his pockets. Votto hit .309 had 103 RBI's and 110 walks in 2011 and hopes to build on those numbers in 2012.
Buehrle is 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA in two career starts against the Reds.
