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Dice-K aims for a victory as Mets resume set with Marlins

Jul 12, 2014 - 2:21 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Daisuke Matsuzaka tries to post his first victory in more than a month when he takes the mound Saturday afternoon for the New York Mets against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.

Matsuzaka is 0-3 over his last six starts and hasn't won since June 10 against Milwaukee. He threw seven shutout frames Monday versus Atlanta, but came away without a decision in a game the Mets won, 4-3 in 11 innings.

In five games (three starts) against the Marlins, Matsuzaka is 1-1 with a 3.79 ERA.

Marlins righty Tom Koehler tries to bounce back from one of his worst outings of the season. On Monday he gave up eight hits and seven runs in three-plus innings of a 9-1 loss at Arizona. He's 1-3 with 2.49 ERA in 10 games (seven starts) all-time against the Mets.

Last night, Zack Wheeler continued his stellar pitching against the Marlins to help the Mets to a 7-1 win in the opener of the three-game series. Wheeler (5-8), who entered the game with a 0.96 ERA in four career starts against Miami, allowed just one run on five hits with six strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings.

"Zack showed you tonight that his stuff is good enough that he can throw it for strikes and get away with it," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "He made pitches tonight when he had to make them."

In his last outing against the Marlins on June 19, Wheeler hurled his first career complete game, limiting his opposition to three hits in a 1-0 win.

David Wright went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer and two runs scored for New York, which has won five of its last six.

Lucas Duda also homered and Juan Lagares added a pair of hits with an RBI in the win.

Miami starter Hector Alvarez (6-4) has also had success against his NL East rival, however, that wasn't the case in this matchup. Alvarez was charged with six runs on eight hits over five innings of work.

"None of my pitches were working like they've always worked," Alvarez stated. "I was also leaving pitches up in the zone."

The Mets are 6-5 against the Marlins this season.