Former first-round pick Jacob Turner makes his first appearance of 2013 on Friday night when the Miami Marlins host the surging New York Mets to open a three-game series at Marlins Park.
The ninth overall pick of the Detroit Tigers in the 2009 draft, Turner reached the majors in 2011 with the Tigers and was 1-2 in six starts with them through 2012.
He was acquired by the Marlins in a trade that sent Omar Infante, Anibal Sanchez and a conditional draft pick to Detroit on July 23 of that year, which he ended by making seven starts with Miami and going 1-4 with a 3.38 earned run average.
He began 2013 in the minors and was 3-4 in 10 starts at Triple-A New Orleans with a 4.47 ERA across 56 1/3 innings, in which he walked 14 batters and struck out 35.
Turner is 0-1 in two career meetings with the Mets, though he's allowed four earned runs in 12 2/3 innings.
New York opposes him with righty Shaun Marcum, who makes his eighth appearance with the Mets in search of a first win.
The Missouri native was 7-4 with Milwaukee across 21 starts last season before signing a one-year deal with the Mets that will pay him $4 million.
He posted a bloated 8.59 ERA through his initial four starts and 14 2/3 innings with New York, but has since whittled the number down to 5.77 while allowing 15 hits and nine runs in his last three starts.
Still, the Mets are just 2-5 in games he's pitched and have scored 15 runs in the five losses with which he's been charged.
Marcum allowed four hits and two runs in just 1 2/3 innings of relief against Miami on April 29 and took the loss in a 4-3 decision.
On Thursday in New York, Dillon Gee extended the Mets' longest winning streak of the season to five games with his best start of the year, leading the way in a 3-1 victory over the New York Yankees that completed a four-game sweep of the home-and-home Subway Series.
Entering the contest with a 6.34 earned run average and a brutal 9.97 ERA on the road, Gee (3-6) dominated a struggling Yankees lineup over 7 1/3 brilliant innings in which he permitted just one run on four hits and struck out a career-best 12 without a walk.
"He was doing a great job on both sides of the plate. He was working it up and down. It was about as complete as Dillon has pitched all year," said Mets manager Terry Collins.
The right-hander concluded his outing by retiring 15 consecutive batters -- the last five via strikeout -- after surrendering Robinson Cano's solo homer in the bottom of the third inning.
Marlon Byrd supplied the offense with a two-run homer off Vidal Nuno (1-2) in the top of the second, the only blemish of the young lefty's night.
The win also gave the Mets their first season sweep of the Yankees since interleague play was instituted in 1997.
In Miami, Matt Joyce and James Loney each homered as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Marlins, 5-2, to complete the Citrus Series sweep for the first time in club history.
The Marlins' struggles continued, as they scored their only runs on a bases- loaded walk and a passed-ball strikeout to lose a season-high ninth straight game.
The Marlins had a chance to pull even in the eighth after Rays reliever Joel Peralta walked two before Greg Dobbs reached on a fielding error to load the bases.
Pinch-hitter Miguel Olivo worked a walk off Josh Lueke to cut Miami's deficit to one. Lueke, though, made Rob Brantley swing and miss at strike three to end the threat.
Ricky Nolasco (3-6) yielded just three runs on four hits in 6 2/3 innings. The Marlins can't seem to put runs on the board for Nolasco, who has only received 19 runs of support in 12 starts.
The Mets and Marlins have split six games in 2013, including Miami taking two of three in a home series from April 29-May 1. The Mets won the 2012 season series, 12-6.
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