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Buehrle pitches six innings of two-run ball

Mark Buehrle knows a thing or two about facing American League teams.

The left-handed starter, one of Miami's big-name free-agent acquisitions of the offseason, made his mark in the AL as a mainstay in the White Sox rotation for the last 11 seasons. With his move to the Marlins, Buehrle finds himself in a relatively unfamiliar league, but in the second game of his team's series against Boston on Tuesday, Buehrle will face a familiar opponent.

In 18 career appearances against Boston, including 17 starts, Buehrle has gone 6-6 with a 4.49 ERA.

"That's why I left the American League, so I didn't have to face American League teams, so it's not going to be fun," Buehrle said. "Boston is a great team. I don't recall having too much success against them, but it's a new year, and [I'll] hopefully go out there and try to throw up some zeros."

Though his previous experience came while pitching for an AL team, Buehrle's track record in Interleague Play is impressive and a good omen for the Marlins, as they try to clinch their three-game series against the Red Sox after Monday's 4-1 win. The lefty is tops all time with 24 Interleague wins, and in winning his last 10 Interleague decisions -- recording a 1.93 ERA over 15 games -- Buehrle is just one victory short of tying the record owned by Kenny Rogers.

He'll face a Boston team mired in one of its worst stretches of the season. The Red Sox have now lost four games in a row, the most since they dropped five straight in early May, and a loss on Tuesday would give the team three straight series losses for the first time since that same period.

"I think it's just about moving forward," said shortstop Mike Aviles. "Keep moving forward and not worry about the past. We've just run into some really good pitchers. We'll just [keep] plugging away, moving forward and going about our business and turn this thing around."

Before Monday, Miami had been scuffling even more than Boston, losing six straight games before snapping that skid in the series opener. It's now up to the Red Sox to break through their own slump on Tuesday.

Marlins: Infante expected back in lineup
• Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen gave second baseman Omar Infante a day off on Monday, marking the first time in 18 games that Infante didn't play. Guillen said that it was an opportunity for Infante to recover mentally, and he expected his infielder to be back in the lineup on Tuesday night.

"I think he's mentally tired," Guillen said. "He's been playing every day. Hopefully, in a couple of days, we'll get him back on track."

Donovan Solano started in Infante's place and went 1-for-3 with two RBIs.

• After struggling mightily on offense during its six-game losing streak, the team's bats took a small step forward with their effort in the series opener. The Marlins plated four runs after scoring 10 total over those six games. The Marlins' biggest difficulties have come with runners in scoring position, going 5-for-50 during the losing streak. They went 2-for-3 on Monday.

"It's kind of funny when you look around at the way we swing the bat, the way we do stuff, and all of a sudden, we got people in scoring position and we shut down," Guillen said. "Maybe they pitch better or maybe we get too anxious. I don't think we can panic because we get men on base, but we have to do better than what we've been doing so far."

Red Sox: Buchholz continues to improve
• Altering the grip on his changeup appears to have done the trick for Boston right-hander Clay Buchholz, who starts for the Red Sox on Tuesday. Since changing his grip, Buchholz has looked much better in his three starts. Over 24 innings, he has allowed just four earned runs and has recorded 29 strikeouts, including throwing a shutout in his last start.

"He's been unbelievable," Aviles said. "When you think about it, he missed quite a bit of time last year. It was just a little bit of an adjustment period of getting the feel back and where he needed to be on his delivery. When you miss a lot of time, it takes time to get that rhythm back. He's getting that rhythm back. He's always had ace-caliber stuff. That's always a plus."

• Since Boston resides in the AL, this three-game series with the Marlins presents a rare opportunity to get a look at Miami's new stadium. Aviles called Marlins Park "state of the art," and said he was impressed by it, especially the landscape surrounding the stadium.

Worth noting
• Miami played with the roof open at Marlins Park for just the fifth time all season on Monday, and with the win, the team moved to 3-2 for the year. Normally the roof stays closed due to the constant threat of rain and high temperatures, but club officials wanted to do something to shake things up given the Marlins' losing streak.

• Shortstop Jose Reyes, who turned 29 on Monday, became the third Marlins player to triple on his birthday. Reyes joined Juan Pierre and Logan Morrison, who did it in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

• Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, who often has been left out of the lineup in the past when the Red Sox play in National League ballparks, started at first base on Monday. Manager Bobby Valentine said he expects Ortiz to do the same in at least one more game in the series against the Marlins.

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