• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Marlins top A's, win 1st series in June

Jul 1, 2011 - 12:36 AM Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - The Marlins ended a month full of low points on a high note, beating the Athletics on Thursday to win their first series in June.

John Buck hit a two-run double to cap a four-run fifth inning and Florida held on for a 5-4 victory to take two out of three games in Oakland.

Chris Volstad (4-7) pitched seven strong innings for the win and Hanley Ramirez had two hits and two runs scored. Leo Nunez gave up a two-run homer to Kurt Suzuki in the ninth, but struck out the last two batters for his 22nd save.

After starting the month 1-19, the Marlins ended June with a 5-23 record under two different managers. They will remain on the road to start July with a three-game series against the Texas Rangers.

"We got our work cut out in Texas, but I think we can handle them," said interim manager Jack McKeon. "We got a good feeling about ourselves. All we need to do is win three or four in a row and who knows whether it will snowball."

A's starter Trevor Cahill was knocked out during Florida's four-run fifth and took the loss. Cahill (8-6) allowed five runs -- four earned -- on nine hits in 4 2/3 frames.

Oakland has lost six of its last eight games on the heels of a six-game winning streak.

Ramirez had a hand in both of Florida's run-scoring innings. He led off the second with a double, then scored when Logan Morrison followed with a two-base hit to make it 1-0.

Volstad faced two batters over the minimum through four innings, and the Marlins tried to break the game open in the fifth.

Emilio Bonifacio led off with a single and stole second base, but Florida scored all four of its runs with two outs.

Ramirez hit a chopper down the line that third baseman Adam Rosales left alone, hoping it would roll foul. It stayed fair, scoring Bonifacio, and Ramirez moved up on a wild pitch before scoring on Morrison's single to center field.

The biggest hit of the inning, however, was delivered by Buck -- a double to the wall in left-center that scored Morrison and Mike Stanton to make it 5-0 and chase Cahill off the mound for Trystan Magnuson.

"My stuff wasn't sharp," said Cahill.

As it turned out, Florida needed all of those runs.

Volstad found trouble with two outs in the seventh and surrendered an RBI single to Adam Rosales. Coco Crisp hit a solo homer off Edward Mujica in the eighth, pulling the A's within 5-2.

After David DeJesus reached on a one-out single in the ninth, Suzuki lined a 3-1 pitch over the wall in left field to draw Oakland within a run. Rosales and Jemile Weeks both struck out swinging to end the game.

Game Notes

The Marlins are 4-5 since McKeon replaced Edwin Rodriguez last week...The A's will continue their nine-game homestand with a three-game series against the Diamondbacks starting Friday.