Pittsburgh @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 19, 2010 ) Florida 4, Pittsburgh 2

Losing Hanley Ramirez may have cost the Florida Marlins a chance to finish with a .500 record.

The Marlins carry a four-game losing streak into the opener of their four-game season-ending series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.

The Marlins have struggled at the plate, scoring just four runs during their current streak and 14 times in their past seven games overall. Florida (77-81) desperately misses Ramirez, even if it has been a bit of a down year for the 6-foot-3 shortstop.

Ramirez hasn’t played since Sept. 21 as he deals with soreness in both elbows and isn’t expected to take another at-bat this season. Ramirez hit 21 home runs and 76 RBIs with 92 runs scored, but his .300 batting average is his lowest since he batted .292 as a rookie in 2006.

Second baseman Dan Uggla is doing all he can to pick up the slack, knocking in his 100th RBI of the season Tuesday night to go along with his 32 home runs, but even he couldn’t get much going in Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The Marlins outhit the Braves 9-7, but couldn’t manage an extra-base hit and left 10 runners stranded on base.

Chris Volstad (11-9, 4.63 ERA) will look to get Florida out of its slide. He is 5-0 with a 3.86 ERA in his last seven starts after going through a rough stretch that saw him allow 16 runs over 14 2/3 innings.

Volstad hasn’t allowed a run in two starts, firing a 4-0 complete-game shutout against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sept. 20 and following that up with 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Milwaukee Brewers in another 4-0 victory. He’ll face off against a Pirates offense that is averaging just 3.61 runs per game with a .242 team batting average.

Pittsburgh (56-102) counters with Zach Duke (8-14, 5.63 ERA), who is coming off two solid outings. He went 7 1/3 innings and allowed three runs in a picking up a no-decision against the Atlanta Braves before beating the Houston Astros 6-4 last Saturday.

Duke is looking for his first win over Florida this season. He is 0-4 with a 6.16 ERA in six starts against the Marlins so far and gave up five runs over 5 2/3 innings the last time he battled them, suffering a 6-0 loss on Aug. 17.

The Marlins head into this one having won five of seven at home against Pittsburgh.