Marlins Look To Smash Padres
MIAMI (AP) -- The San Diego Padres have won all three of Andrew Cashner's starts against NL East opponents, including one in which he excelled against the Miami Marlins.
Cashner will look to duplicate that effort from last month when he takes the mound Sunday as the Padres and Marlins continue this four-game set in Miami.
Cashner (5-3, 3.34 ERA) is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in three starts against the East - all at home. The first one was a 5-0 victory over the Marlins on May 6 as he lasted 7 1-3 innings in the longest outing of his career at that time.
The right-hander has since surpassed that distance twice, including an eight-inning stint in which he surrendered one run last Sunday and did not receive a decision in a 3-1 loss to the Dodgers. Cashner threw 91 pitches and recorded 18 groundouts.
"I was able to keep my pitch count down and I threw some good pitches when I was behind in the count," he said.
Cashner also has been solid at the plate with six hits in 22 at-bats.
He'll be opposed by another Texas-born right-hander in Nathan Eovaldi (1-0, 3.00), who will face the Padres (40-41) for the second time. Eovaldi defeated them July 28 in his Miami debut by yielding one run over 5 1-3 innings in a 4-2 victory.
Eovaldi has started twice since beginning 2013 on the 60-day disabled list due to shoulder inflammation. He has lasted six innings and given up two runs both times, earning his first win since August in last Sunday's 7-2 victory at San Francisco.
His fastball topped out at 98 mph as he threw 56 of 86 pitches for strikes.
"He threw a lot of strikes," manager Mike Redmond told the Marlins' official website. "For his second start, he gave us exactly what we needed."
San Diego had yielded a total of three runs in going 4-0 against Miami before Saturday's 7-1 defeat.
The Marlins (28-51) matched their season run total against the Padres in the first inning as Marcell Ozuna had an RBI single, Ed Lucas scored on an error and Placido Polanco had a sacrifice fly. They doubled their lead with three runs in the fourth.
Jacob Turner pitched a seven-hitter for his first complete game and the first by a Miami pitcher this year.
The Marlins are 14-10 in June. Giancarlo Stanton homered Saturday and has hit safely in all 10 home games since being activated off the disabled list June 10, batting .385 with three homers and 10 RBIs.
Derek Dietrich, who made his major league debut in San Diego on May 8, is 4 for 8 in this series for Miami. For the Padres, Logan Forsythe is 4 for 8 and Will Venable 4 for 9.
San Diego has lost seven of 12 while playing without its top three hitters in Everth Cabrera, Jedd Gyorko and Yonder Alonso.
These teams have played some quick games with Saturday's meeting the third to take less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. (© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
