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Diamondbacks-Marlins Preview

May 16, 2010 - 10:51 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Arizona (15-22) at Florida (19-18), 7:10 p.m. EDT

The Florida Marlins are coming off their first four-game sweep in four seasons. Facing Edwin Jackson and the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks could help them build on it.

Florida tries to extend its season-high winning streak to five Monday night at Sun Life Stadium, where it opens a two-game series against an Arizona team that's lost eight of nine.

Sunday's 10-8 win over the visiting New York Mets capped the Marlins' first four-game sweep since Aug. 25-28, 2006, against Milwaukee. Florida (20-18) last won five straight from Aug. 7-11.

"When you can sweep and win four in a row, that's huge," said Chris Coghlan, who hit a three-run homer in the seventh after the Mets scored six unanswered runs. "You make up a lot of ground. When you play in the division and can take four, that's a big turning point."

The Marlins' bats have also made a big turnaround. After hitting .212 during a 4-6 stretch from May 4-13, Florida is batting .327 and averaging 8.0 runs in its last three games.

"Up until three days ago, our bats had been really cold and it had been really tough to score runs," said Dan Uggla, who moved past Derrek Lee for third all-time in franchise history Sunday with his 130th home run. "It's nice they finally came alive. You just want to build on that. The confidence and the swagger right now - we need to keep that rolling."

They could have a good opportunity at continuing their hot hitting against Jackson (1-5, 7.43 ERA), who has lost a career-high four straight starts. Opponents are batting .405 against him during that stretch.

Jackson struck out a season-high eight in his last outing, but he walked four and gave up six runs in 6 2-3 innings of Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I feel like I let the team down because we were in a position to get the job done, but I didn't get the job done," the right-hander told the Diamondbacks' official website.

Jackson, who has a 13.14 ERA in three road starts, hasn't gotten the job done in three career starts against Florida, going 0-3 with a 10.95 ERA.

Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch will look for a solid outing from Jackson after his relievers failed again in Sunday's 13-1 loss at Atlanta. Arizona's bullpen, which has 7.68 ERA, allowed six runs and walked a season-high six in 3 2-3 innings.

"We're getting in the habit of getting ourselves in trouble with walks," Hinch said. "That's deadly. That's what starts blowouts and makes it ugly."

The Diamondbacks (15-23) weren't any better at the plate Sunday, matching a season low with three hits.

Arizona will look to get back on track against Chris Volstad (3-3, 4.37), who will try to help the Marlins move three games above .500 for the first time since they were 8-5 on April 18.

The 6-foot-8 right-hander gave up four runs and seven hits and matched a career high with four walks in Wednesday's 4-3 loss at the Chicago Cubs.

"I didn't have my best stuff but I felt pretty good," said Volstad, who is 1-1 with a 6.35 ERA in two starts against Arizona.

Reigning NL batting champ Hanley Ramirez went 0 for 4 on Sunday but is still hitting .351 at home this season. He is 0 for 6 lifetime versus Jackson.

Arizona won three of four at Florida in its last visit May 19-21.