Marlins, Phillies set for afternoon baseball

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Marlins aim to close out a 10-game road trip with a series win over the Philadelphia Phillies Thursday afternoon.

The Marlins are 3-6 on the trek and ended a five-game losing streak with Wednesday's 6-1 victory behind solid pitching from Jarred Cosart, who struck out four and did not walk a batter in six innings of work. He allowed one run and scattered four hits.

"He turned it up a notch and took it to the next level," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said of his starter. "He kept their hitters in check."

Martin Prado ended with two hits and an RBI, and was one of four players to finish with multiple hits. Marcell Ozuna, J.T. Realmuto and Adeiny Hechavarria all had two hits, while Hechavarria scored a pair of runs for the Marlins, who bounced back from a 7-3 loss in Tuesday's series opener.

The Marlins improved to 3-9 against NL East clubs and are in a stretch of 22 straight games versus division foes. They will return to south Florida for nine games against the Washington Nationals, New York Mets and Phillies.

Miami turns to David Phelps in this series finale and he has no record with a 7.94 earned run average in three games (1 start). Phelps started against the Mets in last Friday's 4-1 setback at Citi Field and was sharp through 4 2/3 innings, allowing only a run and a hit.

Phelps, a right-hander, will pitch against Philadelphia for the first time.

The Phillies have dropped eight of their last 10 games and couldn't get much going with Cole Hamels on the hill last night. Hamels remained winless on the season and did not record a decision, allowing one unearned run and five hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked three.

Phillies reliever Ken Giles appeared to get out of the eighth inning when he got Jeff Baker to bounce into what should have been an inning-ending fielder's choice, but Chase Utley dropped the routine force out at second to load the bases

Dee Gordon followed with a deep fly ball to center that turned Odubel Herrera around at the warning track. Herrera got under it, but the ball glanced off his glove. All three runners scored on the error, and Prado tacked on an RBI double to cap the four-run inning.

"We don't make those errors, especially the routine ones," Hamels said. "Hopefully we can move on."

Cody Asche homered for Philadelphia.

The Phillies will host the Atlanta Braves for three games this weekend.

Dustin McGowan will take the rotation spot of Sean O'Sullivan, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list with left knee tendinitis. McGowan is 1-0 with a 2.57 earned run average in five relief appearances and the right-hander will take on the Marlins for the first time.

The Phillies had an 11-8 edge over Miami in last season's series.