Florida @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( May 18, 2010 ) Arizona 0, Florida 8

Mike Stanton is starting to show some of the launchpad power that made him such a touted outfield prospect – and that could spell bad news for the already reeling Arizona Diamondbacks.

Stanton looks to continue his recent hot streak Thursday as he leads the Florida Marlins into the opener of a four-game pre-All Star series against the Diamondbacks. The teams last met in mid-May, where they split a two-game series in Miami.

Of course, the Marlins hadn't recalled Stanton then. In light of his recent performances, they're glad to have him aboard.

The 20-year-old right fielder has found his groove, coming into the weekend series in Arizona having homered in back-to-back games. He has driven in six of the Marlins' last seven runs, and has three homers and 10 RBIs over his last nine games.

Strikeouts continue to plague the young slugger, as he has whiffed at least once in 22 of the 24 games he has played this season. His batting average, however, is starting to creep up, a 4-for-12 performance in the Marlins' series against the Los Angeles Dodgers bumping him up to .223 for the season.

The Marlins come in having won three of their past four games, and they'll be in good hands with right-hander Anibal Sanchez (7-5) taking the hill. The 25-year-old has a respectable 3.35 ERA in 16 starts this season and, while he hasn't earned the victories to show for it, his recent performances have been mostly strong.

Sanchez wasn't his sharpest in his last outing as he allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings in a 4-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves. It was the first time in four starts that Sanchez had allowed more than three runs. He has been especially stingy with the long ball, surrendering just four home runs in nearly 100 innings so far this season.

Sanchez has excelled against the Diamondbacks in his career, owning a 1-0 record with a 1.35 ERA in two starts. The first of those meetings resulted in Sanchez's only career no-hitter back on Sept. 6, 2006.

He'll be opposed in Thursday's series opener by veteran righty Rodrigo Lopez (4-7).

The 34-year-old was on the wrong end of one of the worst games in Arizona history his last time out. He surrendered nine runs in 3 2/3 innings, but just two of them were earned as the Diamondbacks committed six errors in a 14-1 loss to the Dodgers. Three of the six hits Lopez allowed were home runs.

The defeat ended a solid two-start stretch by Lopez, in which he allowed just three runs over 14 innings in victories over the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees. He had gone 0-4 in six starts prior to that.

Lopez has made just one appearance in his career against the Marlins, but it was one he would probably rather forget. Lopez was tagged for six runs in just 2/3 of an inning last Aug. 9 in a 12-3 defeat as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. He allowed three hits and walked three.