The Florida Marlins are in an 8-13 tailspin in August. They were 1.5 games out of first on Aug. 7, but they’ve fallen six games back of the front-running New York Mets in the National League East race.

The Marlins have lost three of their last four going into Sunday’s series finale with Arizona, but arguably the staff’s best starter, Ricky Nolasco, takes the mound Sunday with a 12-7 record and a 3.67 ERA. He’s coming off one of the best outings of his career.

Nolasco threw a two-hit shutout and struck out 11 in a 6-0 win over the Giants Tuesday. It was Florida’s first complete game since September 2006, as well as the first complete game and shutout of Nolasco’s career -- and he drove in two runs to boot. He nearly matched his career high of 13 strikeouts in a game, a mark he set in a 5-3 victory facing the Rockies on Aug. 2.

No one has thrown more pitches in a 2008 game than Nolasco, who tossed a career-high 132 pitches in 8.2 innings of a 9-3 win over Tampa Bay on June 15. Beginning with that win, Nolasco made five straight starts in which he threw at least 100 pitches. Prior to that, in parts of three seasons, he’d never thrown 100-plus pitches in more than two consecutive turns.

Still, his workload hasn’t hurt his performance, though less run support of late may have affected his win total.

Nolasco, Through and After June 15, 2008

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Record. . . .ERA. . . . . OBA. . . RS/9 IP
Through June 15. . . . . . . . . . . . . .7-4. . . . .4.35. . . . . .261. . . . .6.4
After June 15. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-3. . . . .3.01. . . . . .228. . . . .3.4

Nolasco is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA in his last five starts. He also has had plenty of success against the Diamondbacks in his career, posting a 2.01 ERA in winning all three of his starts against them. In two starts versus Arizona this season, Nolasco has yielded two runs while striking out 16 in 15 innings.

The Marlins managed just three hits in Saturday’s 7-1 loss to the Diamondbacks. Three Marlins starters who are 25 years old or younger, Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad, are giving the Fish good outings, but the Marlins have to start scoring a few more runs for them to stick close to the top of the NL East.