Florida Marlins’ fans can breath a sigh of relief, for tonight at least. As the team embarked on its most important road trip of the season so far, the state of the Marlins’ playoff hopes was critical. The Marlins have been slumping as of late and came into Tuesday evening 3 games behind 2nd place Philadelphia and 4 games behind 1st place New York. So what do you do to bust out of a slump? Send your ace to the mound and let him start hurling heat.

Ricky Nolasco did just that for the Marlins Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants, and then some. Nolasco pitched and batted the Marlins past the Giants, winning 6-0. Nolasco pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only 2 hits and striking out 11. Just to make sure his efforts weren’t wasted, he got in on the act offensively as well. In the top of the 5th inning, with the Marlins already ahead 3-0, Nolasco stepped to the plate and blew the game open. With runners on 1st and 3rd Nolasco knocked a double to deep left driving in both runners and effectively solidifying the win.

While the returns of Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez, and the emergence of Chris Volstad have strengthened the rotation and given the Marlins a fighting chance, the team would not have been in contention were it not for the efforts of Ricky Nolasco over the course of the season. He has emerged as the ace of the staff in emphatic fashion. From May 3 to July 7th Nolasco kept the Fighting Fish in the race, starting 13 games and compiling a 9-2 record in the process. He leads the rotation in all the crucial categories, innings pitched, wins, and ERA.

Make no mistake, tonights game was important. When you are 4 games out of first place and the competition isn’t showing signs of slowing down you need to keep pace. A loss tonight and you could start lowering the Marlins’ coffin into the ground. Nolasco stepped up and did what aces do, shut down the opponent and gave his team the perfect start to a crucial road trip.