Houston @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 10, 2011 ) Florida 1, Houston 7

THE STORY: The Houston Astros finally managed to reach the 30-win plateau Wednesday night, becoming the last team in the majors to reach the mark. The next goal is putting together back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly four weeks. The Marlins are playing .500 ball in July after a terrible June knocked them well out of the race in the National League East. Slugger Mike Stanton, who has been dealing with blurry vision in his right eye, shook off his ailment and blasted a walk-off homer in the 10th inning Wednesday to help the Marlins bounce back from a pair of tough losses against the Phillies. Houston will test Florida’s new momentum when the teams open a four-game series in Miami on Thursday.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, FS Houston, FS Florida

PITCHING MATCHUP: Marlins RH Brad Hand (0-3, 3.79 ERA) vs. Astros LH J.A. Happ (3-10, 5.63).

Hand is still searching for his first major league win and looked to be in line last week at Texas before yielding back-to-back home runs and getting removed after 3 2/3 innings. The 21-year-old has more walks (12) than strikeouts (10) in 19 innings and has surrendered six home runs. Hand has been better in his two starts against National League competition, allowing a total of four earned runs in 11 innings. Happ has not won since May 14 and has allowed five earned runs in each of his last three starts. The lefthander has had a hard time getting left-handed hitters out, leading to a .309 batting average against. The Boston Red Sox stacked the lineup with lefthanders last weekend and ended up cruising to a win. Happ beat Florida on April 10, surrendering only one run in 7 2/3 innings.

ABOUT THE MARLINS (39-48): After two straight series wins, Florida dropped a three-game set to the Philadelphia Phillies this week. But new manager Jack McKeon has the team playing like it won’t quit as evidenced by Wednesday’s 7-6 come-from-behind triumph that avoided a three-game sweep. Down 4-0 after the top of the third, Florida eventually tied it on Hanley Ramirez’s single in the seventh before walking off with a win. Ramirez had three hits in the contest to raise his average to .236 - its highest since April 17.

ABOUT THE ASTROS (30-58): Not only did Houston snap its five-game losing streak and win for the first time in July on Wednesday, but it did so while getting contributions from nearly everyone who appeared in the game. The offense, led by All-Star Hunter Pence’s three hits and two RBIs, had six players finish with at least one RBI and every starting position player finish with at least one hit. On the other side, Bud Norris pitched seven strong innings and the bullpen - in perhaps the most surprising portion of the game - tacked on two scoreless innings. In fact, Wilton Lopez and David Carpenter combined to strike out five without allowing a baserunner. The Astros had come into the game surrendering an average of 5.9 runs over their previous 11 contests.

FINAL PITCH: Veteran outfielder Mike Cameron, who was acquired in a trade from the Boston Red Sox earlier in the week, made his first appearance for the Marlins on Wednesday. He fouled out to first in the eighth as a pinch-hitter, and could eventually get regular at-bats in center field.