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Unbeaten Nolasco takes the hill for Marlins against Nats

May 6, 2011 - 3:16 PM (Sports Network) - Ricky Nolasco will try to stay unbeaten when he leads the Florida Marlins into the opener of a three-game series tonight versus the NL East-rival Washington Nationals from Sun Life Stadium.

Nolasco is 3-0 with a 3.35 earned run average in six starts and is coming off Sunday's 9-5 victory at Cincinnati in which he tossed seven innings and gave up three runs with five strikeouts. Nolasco has pitched at least 6 1/3 innings in three straight trips to the mound and will toe the home rubber for a fourth time this season.

The right-hander, who is 1-0 in three south Florida outings, owns a solid career record against Washington, going 8-3 with a 4.17 ERA in 14 games, 12 of which have been starts. Nolasco last faced the Nationals in a 5-0 road win back on August 12, when he fired six shutout innings and fanned eight.

Florida will be counting on Nolasco to keep the ballclub within striking distance of division-leading Philadelphia, which is only two games in front of the Marlins for NL East bragging rights. The Marlins just split a four-game series in St. Louis and dropped a 6-3 decision on Thursday at Busch Stadium. Omar Infante had two hits and two RBI, while John Buck went 2-for-4 with two runs scored for the Marlins, who are still 11-5 in their past 16 contests.

Marlins ace Josh Johnson had his worst outing of the season and lost for the first time in 2011 (3-1), as he yielded a season-high five runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings of work. Johnson struck out seven and hasn't won since April 19 versus Pittsburgh.

"It's part of the game. I came out pretty aggressive with decent pitches," said Johnson of his performance. "There was a broken bat and then there was a little blooper. You don't want that stuff to happen, but they were decent pitches so you can't get too upset."

The Marlins are also slated to host the Phillies for three games on the upcoming homestand.

Washington was just swept in three games in south Philly and closed out the set with Thursday's 7-3 loss at Citizens Bank Park. John Lannan got the start for the Nats and was roughed up for six runs and seven hits in only two innings of work, falling to 2-4 on the campaign.

"As much as he is going to see the Phillies in this division, he's just got to get better than that," Nats manager Jim Riggleman said of Lannan.

Jayson Werth, Wilson Ramos and Ian Desmond were each credited with an RBI for the Nationals, who have lost four in a row on the road and seven of 11 games.

The Nationals hope to catch a break on their nine-game road swing against the Phillies, Marlins and Braves, and will hand the ball to Jordan Zimmerman Friday night. Zimmerman ended a personal three-start losing streak in Sunday's 5-2 win over San Francisco and limited the defending World Series champions to two runs and six hits in six innings.

Zimmerman lifted his 2011 record to 2-4 in six starts and was able to trim his earned run average from 4.55 to 4.29. The right-hander is aiming for his first win against the Marlins and is 0-1 in three career starts.

Florida took two of three matchups versus Washington from April 5-7 this season and has won 12 of the previous 14 meetings between the clubs.