• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Marlins-Nationals Preview

May 8, 2010 - 4:52 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Florida (13-15) at Washington (15-13), 1:05 p.m. EDT

Consistency has been hard to find at times this season for the Florida Marlins, but Josh Johnson has proved to be one reliable part of the team.

He's been the closest to a sure thing when facing the Washington Nationals over his career.

After the Marlins snapped a three-game slide in the series opener, Johnson will try to help them win again by staying unbeaten against the Nationals, and earning his fourth straight victory Saturday.

The Marlins' 4-2 victory over the Nationals on Friday night was just their fourth in 12 games. Three victories in that span have come over Washington, including a 9-3 home win Sunday.

In the heat of a Florida afternoon, Johnson (3-1, 3.16 ERA) allowed two runs and three hits over six innings, and improved to 6-0 with a 3.46 ERA all-time against the Nationals.

"This was the first day it was hot," he said. "It's good to get that feeling back, because it's going to be like this the rest of the summer. I sweated a lot. I feel like I lost 20 pounds."

Johnson is 3-0 with a 4.66 ERA in five lifetime starts in Washington. The All-Star right-hander is also 12-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 27 career day games.

He's also benefited from 8.51 runs of support per outing this season, and received seven runs in Sunday's victory. The Marlins (14-15), however, have batted .213 over the past four games.

They got only seven hits Friday, but Jorge Cantu's solo homer in the seventh inning and Gaby Sanchez's single in the eighth helped Florida to a 4-2 comeback victory. In his first major league at-bat, Bryan Petersen started that pivotal inning with a pinch-hit single.

"That's pretty good for (Petersen) - a kid who just came up (to) get his first at-bat, first major league game, getting a knock," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "That's got to be a thrill. Good for him, and it's good that we got a win because it's nice to celebrate also his first major league hit and a win."

The surprising Nationals (15-14) will try to avoid falling back to .500 for the first time since April 26, and are expected to give left-hander Matt Chico his first start since May 21, 2008.

Chico, who replaces John Lannan (swollen arm) in the rotation, was 1-2 with a 3.12 ERA in five starts at Double-A Harrisburg this season. He's struck out 17 batters and walked seven in 26 innings.

He went 0-6 with a 6.91 ERA in eight starts for the Nationals in 2008 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Chico hasn't won since defeating Philadelphia on Sept. 29, 2007, and is 0-2 with an 8.05 ERA in four career starts versus the Marlins.