Florida Marlins (45-43) At Arizona Diamondbacks (37-50), 8:10 P.m.
(Sports Network) - California-born right-hander Jon Garland can snap a six- decision losing streak against the last team he beat tonight, when the Arizona Diamondbacks meet the Florida Marlins in game three of a four-game set at Chase Field. Garland, a 14-game winner last season with the Los Angeles Angels and a member of the 2006 World Series champion Chicago White Sox, was 4-2 this season after a 5-3 win at Florida on May 19. He allowed seven hits and an earned in that triumph, walking one and striking out three to lift his career mark against the Marlins to 1-1 in three starts. He's not gotten a win since however, going 0-6 in nine starts while the Diamondbacks have gone 1-8 in those games.
He took a tough-luck loss on July 1 at Cincinnati, dropping to 4-8 after he allowed six hits and a run in six innings of a 1-0 defeat. Garland is 2-4 in nine home starts, allowing 40 earned runs in 50 1/3 innings. He's faced by Florida rookie left-hander Sean West, who meets the Diamondbacks for the first time in his 10th career start. The 6-foot-8, 240-pounder got to 3-2 overall on June 25 against Baltimore after scattering four hits in six scoreless innings of an 11-3 victory. He's 0-1 in two starts since, losing at San Francisco and getting a no- decision against Washington while combining to allow 12 hits and 10 runs in 10 1/3 innings. He's 1-1 in three road starts with a 4.82 earned run average. On Friday, Dan Haren made a strong case for starting on the hill for the National League in next week's All-Star Game, tossing his second career shutout in an 8-0 drubbing of the Marlins. Haren (9-5) also drove in a run and lowered his miniscule earned run average to 2.01, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out 10. He's yielded two earned runs or fewer in each of his last nine outings. Felipe Lopez belted a three-run homer during a five-run fourth inning, while Stephen Drew and Alex Romero each tripled in a run for Arizona, which had its five-game winning streak snapped in the series opener on Thursday. Florida's Ricky Nolasco (6-7) had a four-start winning streak emphatically halted, as the right-hander was roped for seven runs on nine hits through six innings, striking out eight in the setback, the club's third in five games. The Marlins took two of three games from Arizona last August in their most recent visit to Phoenix, but the Diamondbacks won three of four bouts between the teams in Miami from May 19-21.
Copyright 2009 Courtesy of The Sports Network.










