• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Marlins target end of the month, open set in Oakland

Jun 28, 2011 - 2:47 PM (Sports Network) - Three more days until the end of the worst month in Marlins history.

Florida, owners of just three victories in June, plays its final series before flipping the calendar, a three-game set with the Oakland Athletics that begins tonight at the Coliseum.

The Marlins' 22 defeats in June have already set a club record for the most losses in a single month in team history and Sunday's 2-1 defeat to the Mariners was their 13th in a row in one-run games.

Aiming to win a series for the first time since May 24-26 at San Francisco, Florida instead lost in odd fashion as Seattle's go-ahead run scored from third when reliever Steve Cishek's third pitch on an attempted intentional walk to Seattle's Carlos Peguero sailed past catcher John Buck.

"I threw the first two fine, I don't know what happened that last one," Cishek said. "My head was clear, just throwing it through the chest [of the catcher] and it just took off on me. It's just really, really unfortunate. It has happened to me once before, but that was all in the past, [I] was completely over that. All I got to do is hit him in the chest and somehow it got away from me, really tough to lose that way."

The ending was almost fitting for a series that saw the Marlins serve as the home team at the Mariners' Safeco Field due to a scheduling conflict back in Florida, where the popular rock band U2 was playing at Sun Life Stadium.

Florida's Javier Vazquez played the role of stopper for the Marlins a week ago and he'll look to get his team back in the win column again tonight.

Vazquez avoided a fourth straight losing start by beating the Angels on Tuesday. Though he allowed 10 hits, he didn't walk a batter and kept Los Angeles without a run over 5 1/3 innings to take the win. The victory snapped Florida's club record-tying 11-game losing streak and was the first for interim manager Jack McKeon.

The 34-year-old righty improved to 4-7 with a 6.37 earned run average in 15 starts this year and will try to win his fifth straight appearance against the Athletics. He beat them in relief last year as a member of the Yankees, throwing 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball, and is 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA lifetime against Oakland in 10 games, including nine starts.

Vazquez will try to keep Oakland's offense in check, a unit that has logged just eight runs in its last five games. Half of those came in its lone win in that span, a 4-1 triumph over Philadelphia on Saturday, but the Phils answered with a 3-1 victory the following day in a rubber match.

Ryan Sweeney drove in the lone run and Josh Outman gave up three runs over six innings for Oakland, which begins a nine-game homestand tonight and has won five straight at the Coliseum.

"I thought we had our opportunities," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We had our opportunities and we missed them today. I hope everybody in there realizes that everybody can be beat."

Gio Gonzalez has been tough to beat as of late, but he is coming off a tough- luck no-decision versus the Mets on Wednesday. The southpaw held New York to a run on four hits over seven innings, striking out eight in his club's 3-2 loss.

"I battled all the way, just trying to keep the team in the game," Gonzalez told Oakland's website. "It's unfortunate to have that kind of inning, but it was an exciting game, just because of the way we kept going out there."

Gonzalez was coming off a victory over the Royals in which he struck out 10 batters over six innings of two-run ball. He is 6-5 with a 2.59 ERA in 15 starts this year, but has received two runs of support or less in nine of his outings. That includes just seven runs in his five losses.

The 25-year-old faces the Marlins for the first time in his career.

The A's and Marlins have split six all-time meetings, with Oakland taking two of three at home in the last meeting in 2008.