Still searching for his first major-league win, Ty Taubenheim found himself on the wrong end of an unlikely pitching duel on Friday.

The 23-year-old Toronto starter pitched six strong innings and collected his first major-league hit, a fifth-inning single, but was outdone by 22-year-old Florida starter Scott Olsen in the Marlins' 3-1 interleague win over the Blue Jays on a steamy night in Miami.

Blue Jays starter Ty Taubenheim threw six solid innings Friday against Florida, but it wasn't enough.
(Alan Diaz/Associated Press)

Olsen (6-3) tossed seven innings, giving up six hits and one earned run while striking out eight and walking two.

"We've bonded in here now, we are a team now," said Olsen of the Marlins, who have won six straight and 16 of their last 22. "We've come together as a team the last three, four weeks. It's getting to be a lot of fun."

Taubenheim (0-4) struck out three, walked two and gave up four hits, one of which was a solo home run by Miguel Cabrera and another a two-run shot by Dan Uggla that gave the Marlins their margin of victory.

Troy Glaus accounted for all of the Blue Jays' offence with a solo home run to lead off the fourth, while Bengie Molina extended his team-best hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the second.

Blue Jays slugger Vernon Wells struck out three times.

"We saw something in [Wells'] first at bat," Olsen said. "He was chasing sliders early. Until he stopped chasing them, we were going to keep throwing them."

Taubenheim and Olsen cruised through the first three innings before Glaus began the fourth with his solo shot to left-centre. The blast was Glaus' team-leading 20th of the season — second-best in the American League.

A miscue by the Blue Jays' Shea Hillenbrand opened the door for the Marlins in the fifth. Hillenbrand, who is usually the designated hitter but was spelling Glaus at third base Friday, misplayed a ground ball by Matt Treanor, who led off the inning. Two batters later, Uggla hit a two-run homer to put Florida up 2-1.

The Marlins struck again in the sixth when Cabrera led off with a solo homer to left, but Taubenheim settled down to retire the next three batters in order before turning the pitching duties over to Vinnie Chulk for the seventh inning.

Olsen gave way to Carlos Martinez to begin the eighth, and the Blue Jays looked poised to rally against the righthander.

Russ Adams, hitting in Taubenheim's spot after coming off the bench to play second in the seventh inning, led off with a walk and moved up to second on a single by Frank Catalanotto, who pinch-hit for Reed Johnson.

Martinez quashed the threat, though, by getting Alex Rios to fly out, then striking out Vernon Wells. Adams was thrown out trying to steal on the Wells strikeout, completing the inning-ending double play.

"We had too many lost opportunities," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "We had some opportunities we didn't cash in on."

The Blue Jays got another rally going in the ninth, loading the bases against young relievers Logan Kensing and Taylor Tankersley, but Tankersley induced Adams into a fly-out to right with two out to pick up the save for Florida.

The second game of the three-game set goes Saturday evening in Miami.

With files from Associated Press