Marlins Vs. Pirates: Anibal Sanchez Starts First Of Two Games Against Pittsburgh

The Miami Marlins return home to Marlins Park to begin a two-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night. The Marlins have won eight straight games against the Pirates and have won 10 of their last 12 games overall to put them 3.5 games behind the division-leading Atlanta Braves.

Anibal Sanchez takes to the hill in his seventh start this season. He currently stands at 2-0 with a 2.01 ERA. In his last start was May 8 against the Houston Astros, Sanchez went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out eight.

The Marlins match up with Pirates pitcher Brad Lincoln, starting for the injured Erik Bedard. This will be Lincoln's first start of the season after pitching seven games out of the bullpen. Lincoln is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.63 with 16 strikeouts. After relieving Bedard against the Washington Nationals on May 9, Lincoln pitched three innings, allowing one run on one hit while striking out four to get credit for the win.

What could help the Marlins Monday night against the Pirates could be shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes is hitting .340 over his last 13 games and is even hotter against the Pirates, batting .411 with 15 multi-hit games in the last 22 contests against Pittsburgh.

The game is scheduled for a first pitch at 7:10 p.m. Television coverage will be provided by Fox Sports Florida with radio coverage provided by WAXY 790 AM and WAQI 710 AM.

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