Ramirez, Tucker carry the Marlins

MIAMI -- Hanley Ramirez has rediscovered his power stroke. Ken Griffey Jr. is still trying to find his.

Ramirez homered twice and Temple City High product Ryan Tucker pitched five effective innings to win in his major league debut, leading the Florida Marlins past the Cincinnati Reds, 9-2, on Sunday.

“I don’t think about hitting home runs at all,” Ramirez said. “I just think about staying inside the ball.”

Griffey remained one home run shy of becoming the sixth player to reach 600 for a career after going 0 for 1 with two walks. He was replaced in the seventh, and hasn’t homered since May 31.

Ramirez hit two two-run homers against Aaron Harang (2-9), giving him five in his last five games. Dan Uggla had two doubles and three runs batted in, and Jorge Cantu had two hits and an RBI for the Marlins.

Tucker (1-0) gave up one run, two hits, five walks -- one intentional -- and struck out six in five innings. The right-hander, chosen 34th in the 2005 draft, was promoted from Double-A Carolina of the Southern League before the game.

“The young man over there threw the ball pretty good,” Reds Manager Dusty Baker said. “He was wild; he was effectively wild.”

After learning of his promotion Friday, Tucker said he spent Saturday trying to corral his nerves and listening to his minor league teammates warn him about pitching to Griffey.

“They were saying, ‘Don’t give it up, don’t give it up,’ ” Tucker said. “I just tried to let that go. As awesome as it would have been for him to get No. 600, I didn’t want to be the one to give it up.”