Miami @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 19, 2012 ) Chi. Cubs 3, Miami 5

With 13 teams separated by 3 1/2 games fighting for the four wild card playoff spots in Major League Baseball, it figures to be a buyers’ market leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. The Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins, though, who begin a three-game series Tuesday at Wrigley Field, are not among the baker’s dozen battling for a postseason berth. The Cubs went 7-3 in their final 10 games prior to the All-Star Game and came out of the break with a three-game sweep of Arizona, but are 12 1/2 games out of the final wild card spot.

The Marlins, who swept the Cubs in April and outscored them 19-6 in the three games, are six out after gaining a split of their four-game series with a 5-3 victory over the Washington Nationals on Monday. They will face red-hot Chicago left-hander Travis Wood, who has won his last four starts. Wood will oppose Florida’s Anibal Sanchez, who has won only twice in his last 12 starts.

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, FS Florida (Miami), CS Chicago

PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Anibal Sanchez (4-6, 4.12 ERA) vs. Cubs LH Travis Wood (4-3, 3.05)

Sanchez has received no-decisions in his last two starts. He pitched well in a 5-4 loss at St. Louis on July 8 (six innings, two runs, five hits) after allowing six runs (five earned) and 11 hits in five innings in a 13-12 setback at Milwaukee on July 3. Sanchez is 1-2 with a 5.66 ERA in four lifetime starts against the Cubs, with the victory coming in 2011, his last start against them. The Cubs’ roster is hitting .244 against him, with Alfonso Soriano 5-for-22 (two solo home runs).

Wood has allowed four runs (three earned) and 17 hits in 26 2/3 innings (1.01 ERA) during his streak. Three of those runs (two earned) came in his last outing, an 8-7 victory at the New York Mets on July 6. Wood has posted five straight quality starts, and six of his last seven. He lost his only start against the Marlins – a 7-6 loss April 29, 2011 while with Cincinnati – when he allowed seven runs. The Cubs’ roster is hitting .267 against Wood, with Carlos Lee 2-for-15.

WALK-OFFS

1. Miami’s Mike Dunn, who took over the closer’s role from Heath Bell, earned his first career save Monday, with Bell pitching the eighth.

2. Cubs SS Starlin Castro is 8-for-47 in his last 13 games and his batting average has dropped 24 points to .284 during that span.

3. Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen makes his first trip to Chicago since managing the White Sox for eight seasons.