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Marlins hope to keep Bucs' bats silent

Apr 21, 2011 - 2:41 PM (Sports Network) - It's tough to say if Florida pitchers have been that good or Pittsburgh hitters have been that bad through the first two contests of this three-game set.

It's probably a little bit of both.

The Marlins will try to extend their scoreless-innings run in this series and record their first sweep of the Pirates since 2002 this evening at Sun Life Stadium.

Florida has dominated Pittsburgh in back-to-back victories to open this series, winning a pair of 6-0 decisions and holding the Pirates to just seven hits with 22 strikeouts. The Marlins have now won four straight over the Bucs, winning three of those by a shutout, and 10 of the past 12 meetings overall. They will try for their first sweep in this series since Aug. 30-Sept. 1, 2002.

After Josh Johnson kicked off this series with seven innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts on Tuesday, Ricky Nolasco followed up last night with seven scoreless innings of his own. He worked around four hits and struck out eight for the Marlins, who have won five of six, taking the first two of a nine-game homestand, and are a half-game back of the Phillies for first place in the National League East.

"I was just trying to throw as many strikes as I could," Nolasco said.

Chris Coghlan drove in three runs and both he and Emilio Bonifacio finished with two hits. Florida ended with 11 hits in all despite missing outfielder Logan Morrison due to an injured left foot that required an MRI on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh was also missing one of its top offensive players in Andrew McCutchen, who left the team for personal reasons. It is unknown when he will return to the club.

With McCuthcen out, Jose Tabata shifted over to start in center and he was replaced in left field by Matt Diaz, who had two of Pittsburgh's five hits last night.

"The punchouts continue to haunt us from time to time," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said on his team's official website. "I thought we got out of that cycle a little bit, and we got back into it. Over the last two nights, they've thrown close to seven innings of the pitcher playing pitch and catch."

Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton allowed six runs on 10 hits over five innings.

The Pirates had won three of four before this series and hope that James McDonald can find his form when he takes the mound tonight.

After not factoring into the decision of his first two starts, the right- hander was hammered for seven runs -- six earned -- on nine hits and two walks in just 4 1/3 innings of a loss to the Reds on Saturday. McDonald's last pitch of the game was parked beyond the outfield wall for a grand slam.

"He was battling out there and was hurrying too much," said Hurdle of McDonald, who has a 7.47 earned run average on the season. "There were times we needed him to slow down and make a pitch and he just couldn't get it done."

McDonald, 26, has split a pair of decisions versus the Marlins in his career with a 2.35 ERA, but did win his only career start against them on Aug. 16 of last season. He got the better of Chris Volstad in a 7-1 decision and will face the Marlins right-hander again tonight.

Volstad makes his third start of the season tonight and first since last Tuesday, when he was charged with five runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings of a 5-0 loss to Atlanta.

The 24-year-old is 1-2 with a bloated 7.07 ERA in three career starts against the Pirates.