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Rays host reeling Marlins, seek to end home woes

Jun 17, 2011 - 2:48 PM (Sports Network) - What happens when a team that is struggling at home takes on a club that can't seem to win anywhere right now?

Call it the opposite of the unstoppable force meeting the unmovable object.

The Tampa Bay Rays try to get on track at Tropicana Field this evening in the opener of a three-game set versus the Florida Marlins, who try to avoid their second eight-game slide of the month.

The Rays kicked off a six-game stay at home on Tuesday with a big shutout victory over the Boston Red Sox, but proceeded to drop the final two games of the series to fall to 15-18 at home this season. The series loss and the aforementioned home struggles now have Tampa Bay 5 1/2 games back of first- place Boston in the American League East.

Casey Kotchman homered for Tampa Bay on Thursday, but the Rays left the tying runs on base in the ninth inning. Tampa Bay's David Price also struggled in the start, issuing a season-high five walks over his five-inning outing.

"I didn't command the zone at all today with any pitch," said Price, who hadn't walked more than two batters in a start this season before yesterday. "You're not going to get by, especially against a team like Boston."

Tampa Bay could turn its fortunes at home around tonight, given that it has taken six of its last nine at the Trop against Florida. However, the Marlins did take two of three over the Rays at home back in May and have won six of the past nine overall games in this series.

Florida, though, brings just a 1-15 record in the month of June into this meeting. It was just swept in four games by the Philadelphia Phillies, with Thursday's 3-0 loss pushing the club's skid to seven straight.

The Marlins managed just two hits off Philadelphia ace Cliff Lee, who hurled a shutout. Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison both had singles, while Javier Vazquez allowed two runs over five innings to take the loss.

Florida was shut out for the fifth time this season.

"That was a tough series. We battled, the guys are playing hard," Marlins manager Edwin Rodriguez said. "We ran into very good pitching. We just have to regroup and start again [Friday]."

Set to make his third career start tonight is Florida's Brad Hand, who turned in a stellar debut on June 7 before struggling with his command five days later to fall to 0-2 with a 3.27 earned run average.

Hand, a 2008 second-round pick, held Atlanta to just a run over six innings in his first big-league start, but took a 1-0 loss. The 21-year-old lefty then issued five walks over five innings Sunday versus Arizona, while getting charged with four runs -- three earned -- on five hits.

"I didn't really have any control, a feel for anything, got behind in the count, leaving a lot of balls up," Hand, who will make his first road start tonight, told Florida's website. "So it kind of hurt me."

Though he won for the first time in six starts on Sunday, Rays hurler Wade Davis still struggled on the mound and he'll look for a better outing this evening.

Davis moved to 5-5 with a 4.81 ERA in 13 starts despite allowing five runs -- four earned -- on eight hits and two homers over six-plus innings. Though he snapped a three-decision slide, the right-hander still gave up at least four earned runs for the fifth time in six starts and has been touched for 10 home runs in that time.

Davis, 25, is winless in three career interleague starts, having gone 0-3 with a 3.78 ERA. He faces the Marlins for the first time.