Stowers pads All-Star resume in Marlins' 5th straight win

PHOENIX -- Being an All-Star is a career goal for Marlins outfielder Kyle Stowers, and he is doing his best to make that dream become a reality.

Stowers, who has a team-leading 13 home runs, has gone deep three times since Sunday after a 31-game drought. He, Heriberto Hernandez and Otto Lopez homered as the Marlins extended their winning streak to a season-high five games in Friday night’s 9-8 victory over the D-backs at Chase Field.

Full All-Star rosters will be announced at 6 p.m. ET on July 6 during the MLB All-Star Selection Show presented by PRO SPIRIT. Pitchers and reserves for both the National League and American League squads will be determined through a combination of Player Ballot choices and selections made by the Commissioner’s Office. If Stowers gets the call, it’ll be through one of those processes.

“If it happens, it happens,” said Stowers, whose .848 OPS ranks sixth among NL outfielders. “If it doesn't, it doesn't. I just want to keep resetting each day and just doing whatever I can to help the team win that day. All that stuff's really, genuinely, out of my control. So there's no reason to worry too much about it.”

One thing’s for certain: When Stowers goes, so do the Marlins.

• 16-6 record when Stowers drives in a run
• 6.1 runs per game with a Stowers RBI (22 games) vs. 3.4 without one (54 games)
• 6 runs per game when Stowers homers (10 games) vs. 3.9 when he doesn’t (66 games)

“He's had that type of first half for us, come up with a lot of big hits,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “The power has been there, even after a little bit of a swoon he went through. You've seen him really back on the uptick, and back driving the ball very well, having really good at-bats, good aggressive swing. So Kyle, for me, he's definitely had an All-Star first half of the season.”

Friday’s series opener was no exception.

Miami put together its fifth consecutive game with double-digit knocks, eight of which went for extra bases, despite being without a hit until two outs in the fourth. That’s when the Marlins tallied back-to-back-to-back doubles.

Lopez began the rally with a grounder down the third-base line. Agustín Ramírez drove him in with a liner that had an exit velocity of 116.9 mph – the hardest-hit ball of his career. Stowers followed with a sharp line drive to straightaway center to give Miami a 2-1 lead. Stowers later blasted the go-ahead home run to chase righty Merrill Kelly to open the sixth inning.

“It's the ability to impact and slug,” McCullough said. “For him to drive a changeup to center field for that ribby, and then, take a fastball to the pull side for a homer. Getting back, this road trip has been great for him, seeing him back, stay through some balls, hit for power. He's sitting there in a good spot where some of those guys get on base for him, and the ability to hit a gap or hit a home run and drive in runs is something he's been doing a lot this year.”

“He's figured out what he needs to do with his body this year to where he's just on time, like all the time, and it's impressive,” said Connor Norby, who came to the Marlins’ organization with Stowers in the Trevor Rogers trade.

Since June 20, Stowers is riding a seven-game on-base streak. During this stretch, he is batting .320 (8-for-25) with four doubles, three homers, six RBIs and seven runs.

This comes on the heels of a rough patch from May 24-June 11, when Stowers – at the time a surefire All-Star selection and one of the MLB’s breakout stars – slashed .118/.151/.137 with one extra-base hit, two RBIs, 19 strikeouts and two walks in 15 games. His average dipped from .319 to .272.

“My aim was off,” Stowers said. “I was trying to do a little bit too much there for a little bit, starting to put some pressure on myself. I'd been talking earlier in the year about playing with no expectations, and I think I was starting to kind of get away from that a little bit. So it's just realigning my aim.

“We've all got our internal battles. That was just the one I was dealing with there for a little bit, and I feel like I'm back to center now, though.”