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Giants, Vogelsong aim to find win column against Marlins

Aug 14, 2011 - 2:49 PM (Sports Network) - Both the San Francisco Giants and their All-Star pitcher Ryan Vogelsong will be looking to build new winning streaks this afternoon in the finale of a three-game series with the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.

For Vogelsong, he will try to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time this season. He went 12 starts and six wins in between losses, picking up his initial defeat of 2011 on May 26 versus the Marlins before having his undefeated run end on Monday against the Pirates. The Giants have been shut out in both of the right-hander's losses this year, including his most recent 5-0 defeat. Vogelsong allowed five runs on nine hits and two walks over five frames, striking out eight.

The 34-year-old was more successful in his defeat to the Marlins in May. He gave up just one run on eight hits over eight innings in facing them for the first time as a starter, but suffered a 1-0 setback.

On the season, Vogelsong is 9-2 with a 2.48 earned run average.

San Francisco, meanwhile, won for just the fourth time in 12 games this month with last night's 3-0 victory and hasn't won consecutive games since July 27-28. The Giants have Tim Lincecum to thank for Saturday's win as he struck out 10 batters over seven scoreless innings, working around two hits and three walks.

"It looked like he was hitting all of his spots and he kept them off-balance with his offspeed stuff. I'm glad we could score him some runs early," Giants right fielder Nate Schierholtz said about Lincecum after his team snapped a five-game slide to the Marlins.

One of those early runs came in the first inning off the bat of Jeff Keppinger, who extended a major league record with San Francisco's 21st straight solo homer. The last Giants player to go deep with a man on base was Schierholtz, who connected on a two-run blast back on July 6.

Brian Wilson put two runners on base in the ninth, but closed out the game for his 35th save of the year and kept the Giants two games behind the Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West.

Facing a Giants lineup that was without Carlos Beltran for a fifth straight game because of a sprained right wrist, Marlins starter Javier Vazquez also fanned 10 but allowed three runs over seven innings.

"[Vazquez] pitched his heart out. He made a few mistakes and basically that's the ballgame," said Marlins manager Jack McKeon, whose club has lost eight of nine and made a pair of roster moves following the loss.

Florida released 13-year veteran Wes Helms, who was hitting just .191 in 69 games, but also surprised a few when it sent young outfielder Logan Morrison back to Triple-A New Orleans. Believed to be part of the Marlins' future core, Morrison has 17 homers and 60 RBI in 95 games but is hitting just .249.

"We're going to bring up a couple of other guys and look at them," McKeon told Florida's website.

Right-hander Chris Volstad will try to add some stability to the Marlins' rotation in his first big-league start since July 22. The right-hander is 5-8 with a 5.58 ERA in 20 starts and went 1-1 with an 8.50 ERA in his last four outings before a demotion to New Orleans. He pitched past the fifth inning just once in that span before being given time to work out some things in the minors.

"Most of the times throughout my games, they are not bad games," Volstad told Florida's website. "It will be a bad inning or a bad stretch of hitters, and there are three runs right there. I think the consistency part is what I'm trying to get back to."

The 24-year-old did pitch well in San Francisco on May 25, holding the Giants to a pair of runs over six innings with six strikeouts in a no-decision. He is 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA in three career starts in this series.