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Marlins Host Rays In Four-Game Series

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MIAMI (CBSMiami/SportsDirect) – Slugger Justin Bour hopes to build off a huge performance when his Miami Marlins host the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday for the opener of a four-game, home-and-home series. Bour recorded career highs of four hits and six RBIs to raise his season average to .222 as the Marlins snapped a four-game slide with a 10-3 victory over Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Marcell Ozuna also is looking to build momentum from Sunday's win in which he registered three hits and scored twice as he went 9-for-16 against Tampa Bay last season. The Marlins will send Wei-Yin Chen, who knows the Rays well from his days in the American League East, to the mound while Jake Odorizzi is expected to return from the disabled list to start for Tampa Bay. The Rays are 2-4 on their eight-game road trip and have won just three of 13 away from home after scoring just one run in each of their last two contests in Toronto. Leading hitter Steven Souza Jr. (.330, 17 RBIs) is day-to-day with a sore wrist while Tampa Bay needs Evan Longoria (.208 batting average) and Kevin Kiermaier (1-for-32, 13 strikeouts in his last eight games) to get going offensively.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Tampa Bay, Miami)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jake Odorizzi (1-1, 4.15 ERA) vs. Marlins LH Wei-Yin Chen (2-1, 4.71)

Odorizzi returns to the mound for the first time since April 15 after suffering a hamstring injury and hopes to pick up where he left off as he has allowed two runs in his last seven innings. The 27-year-old Illinois native, who recorded 30 wins over the previous three seasons, defeated Toronto on April 9 while permitting two runs and two hits in six frames. Odorizzi pitched five scoreless innings in a win against Miami last year and is 2-1 with a 4.29 ERA in his career versus the Marlins.

Chen suffered his first loss in four starts Wednesday at Philadelphia, yielding four runs and seven hits over five innings after limiting two of his first three opponents to fewer than two runs. The 31-year-old native of Taiwan, who started his career with Baltimore, is 5-6 with a 5.76 ERA in 20 starts against Tampa Bay after giving up five runs over 5 2/3 frames in a no-decision last season. Longoria has gone deep twice and Peter Bourjos is 4-for-9 lifetime versus Chen.

WALK-OFFS

1. The Marlins won three of the four meetings last season but trails in the Sunshine State all-time series 52-51.

2. Miami 3B Martin Prado has hit safely in seven straight games, going 8-for-30 in that stretch.

3. Tampa Bay 1B-DH Logan Morrison, who is second on the team with 14 RBIs this season, went 8-for-13 against the Marlins in 2016.

PREDICTION: Rays 5, Marlins 3

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Sports Direct Inc. contributed to this report.)

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