• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Marlins persue series win vs. Astros

Aug 5, 2007 - 1:58 PM Houston (48-62) at Florida (51-60) 1:05 pm EDT

MIAMI (Ticker) - Coming off a wild and unusual victory on Saturday, the Florida Marlins will target their first series win in two weeks when they host the Houston Astros in Sunday's series finale.

After dropping Friday's opener 8-2, Florida captured a 6-5 win in 12 innings on Saturday after Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked with two outs and later scored after the second of two wild pitches by Stephen Randolph bounced off catcher Eric Munson and ended up rolling into the Houston dugout.

The unusual win gives the Marlins the chance to win a series for the first time since taking a four-game set from the Cincinnati Reds from July 19-22. They have dropped nine of 12 games since, even with Saturday's win.

For Florida to take the series, Scott Olsen (8-9, 5.53 ERA) will need to put aside his latest struggles and keep his mind off his off-field troubles. He has surrendered 13 runs over his last two outings, a span of 10 innings, and is hoping to avoid losses in three consecutive starts following his arrest for DUI on July 20.

His latest poor outing was Tuesday, as he permitted six runs and seven hits in five innings in a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies. The 23-year-old lefthander has only faced the Astros once, winning a 5 1/3-inning outing against them last year.

The Astros will respond with Matt Albers (2-4, 5.93), who will be coming out of the bullpen to start.

The righthander fared well in his previous start on July 25 despite not receiving a decision. Albers yielded three hits in five scoreless innings of what would eventually be a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 24-year-old righthander, who is 1-4 with a 5.54 ERA in eight starts this year, has never faced the Marlins.