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Aug 12, 2010 - 4:48 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Florida (55-56) at Washington (49-64), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Florida Marlins have a chance to match their longest winning streak of the season. Starting Ricky Nolasco on the road gives them a good shot to do it.

The right-hander will try to win his sixth consecutive start away from home Thursday night and help Florida sweep the Washington Nationals.

Rookie outfielder Mike Stanton had a career-best five hits and four RBIs to lead the Marlins to a 9-5 victory Wednesday night. It was the third straight victory for Florida (56-56), which won a season-best four in a row from May 13-16.

"What (Stanton) did tonight could be the start of very good things to come," manager Edwin Rodriguez said. "He's only 20. He wants to get better. He doesn't want to waste any day."

Rodriguez's team has won five of six on the road as the pitching staff has posted a 2.55 ERA, and there's reason to believe Nolasco (12-8, 4.57 ERA) can help Florida continue that success.

The right-hander is 8-2 with a 3.86 ERA in road starts this season, winning his last five with a 3.03 ERA and 39 strikeouts compared to seven walks.

Nolasco, though, enters the game after one of his worst outings of the season, allowing seven runs and 10 hits in five innings of Friday's 7-0 home defeat to St. Louis.

He's 0-2 with an 8.68 ERA against the Nationals this season but is 2-0 with a 2.66 ERA in his last four outings at Washington.

Nolasco now looks to help the Marlins complete their first sweep of Washington (49-65) since June 29-July 1, 2009.

The Nationals try to avoid that fate behind Livan Hernandez (8-7, 3.03 ERA), who has given up one earned run in four of his last five starts. The first one of those outings came at Florida on July 17, but he was on the wrong end of a 2-0 loss.

Hernandez held the Los Angeles Dodgers to two runs - one earned - and five hits over seven innings Saturday in a 3-2 loss in 10 innings.

"He's remarkable, and he's been this way for a number of years now," catcher Brad Ausmus said. "No two pitches are the same."

Hernandez is 0-1 in two matchups with Florida this season despite a 1.38 ERA. He's 13-9 with a 3.46 ERA in 30 career starts against his former team, the most wins over one opponent in his career.

Adam Dunn will try to help his teammate by adding to a power surge that's already featured seven homers in 10 games, including a solo shot Wednesday. Ian Desmond, hitting .353 in his last 15 contests, recorded his first two-homer game in Washington's fourth straight defeat.

The Marlins, who batted .206 while losing their first five games this month, have recorded 24 hits over the first two games of the series, including seven from Stanton. Hanley Ramirez and rookie outfielder Logan Morrison have added four apiece.