video thumbnail

MIA@TB: Johnson holds Rays to two runs through six

Things have become drastically different for the Marlins over the past month.

After flirting with the division lead following a franchise-best 21 wins in May, Miami has fallen to 4-15 in June, and now sits in fourth place in the National League East after dropping its fifth straight game Friday.

Looking to bounce back and snap the skid, the Marlins will turn to ace Josh Johnson for the second game of a three-game set with the Blue Jays.

Johnson has responded nicely after a rough start to the season. The 28-year-old, despite walking a season-high four batters the last time out, has thrown four consecutive quality starts and sports a 2.18 ERA in June after posting marks of 5.34 and 4.41 in the first two months.

Still, Johnson was not happy with his previous start in which he lasted six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits to take just his second loss since April 29.

"A lot of balls and struggling to find the zone," Johnson said about his performance. "I battled, though. I found a way to get outs. Just a couple of bad pitches."

The Jays, meanwhile, will send left-hander Brett Cecil to the mound and hope they still have some pop left in their bats after thumping the Marlins, 12-5, on Friday.

Cecil will look to improve the Blue Jays' record to .500 on the month after the team posted winning records in both April and May.

The left-hander will be making just his second start of the season, as he began the year in the Minors after losing a spot in Toronto's rotation at the end of Spring Training.

Cecil picked up the win against the Phillies last Sunday after allowing two runs on five hits, while walking one and striking out five over five innings.

"[My] curveball has gotten a lot better and it's a lot tighter," Cecil said when asked what he has improved the most over the past year. "That, and just being able to control the ball a lot better with all of my pitches and throwing to both sides of the plate."

The 12 runs Toronto scored in the first game of the series matched its second-highest total of the season.

Blue Jays: Lawrie leading the charge
Blue Jays manager John Farrell moved third baseman Brett Lawrie to the leadoff spot 16 games ago, a move that has paid dividends.

Over the stretch, Lawrie has hit .333 with six extra-base hits -- including three home runs -- and set the tone in Friday's opener, going 3-for-5 with four runs scored.

Lawrie increased his team-leading average to .293 and hit total to 77. The 22-year-old also stole his 10th base of the season Friday, which is second on the team to Rajai Davis' 17.

He has hit safely in 10 of his past 11 games, which includes six multi-hit efforts, and he's batting .316 in June.

• Jose Bautista tied White Sox slugger Adam Dunn for the Major League lead in home runs after blasting his 23rd of the season in Friday's win. It was also Bautista's 11th of the month, which is tops in the game.

The seventh-inning solo shot gave Bautista his 55th RBI of the year, which trails only Josh Hamilton's Major League-leading 64.

No duo in baseball has more home runs than the 45 that Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have hit this season, and Bautista's 120 homers since 2010 are the most in the Majors.

Bautista's 2-for-3 effort with two walks raised his OPS to .902.

Marlins: Bonifacio making progress
Emilio Bonifacio swung a bat for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his left thumb on May 25.

His timetable for a return is still considered to be sometime after the All-Star break.

Bonifacio is batting .268 with 20 stolen bases over 39 games.

• Giancarlo Stanton homered for the second consecutive game in Friday's loss.

The solo shot was Stanton's 16th of the year, and third of the month, after he went deep 12 times in May.

MLB.com Comments