CLEVELAND -- For seven weeks, the only club that could keep pace with Miami in the win column was the Majors’ top team in Milwaukee.
The Marlins were riding high, reaching .500 by sweeping the Yankees on Aug. 3. After Tuesday night’s 4-3 loss to the Guardians at Progressive Field, Miami has gone 2-7 to drop five games below .500 for the first time since July 28.
The inexperienced Marlins are learning firsthand about the inevitable ebbs and flows of a 162-game Major League season. Things can quickly flip.
“It's definitely going to turn,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Sometimes you go through ruts where you feel like, on one hand, you can never lose again, and on the other side, you feel like we have to play an absolutely perfect game in all facets to win, which we don't have to play perfect. We know we have to play well. And so right now, yes, it's been a tough go for the last three or four days, and all we can do is go back tomorrow and focus on what we can control.
“... You just try to go be better when those opportunities come again, because it's going to turn. The sun will come up tomorrow, and we'll have a game where we have a chance to win.”
Here are three key reasons for Miami’s recent fortune:
PITCHING
June 13 through Aug. 3:
Starter ERA -- 3.62 (sixth best)
Bullpen ERA -- 2.98 (third best)
Team ERA -- 3.36 (second best)
BB/9, as a staff -- 2.49 (third best)
Aug. 4 through Tuesday:
Starters ERA - 6.16
Relievers ERA - 6.84
Team ERA -- 6.39 (second worst, better than only the Rockies)
Team BB/9 -- 3.08 (13th best)
In Tuesday’s series opener, right-hander Janson Junk settled down after surrendering back-to-back first-inning homers to José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo by allowing just one more run over the next four frames. The relief corps, which welcomed back new dad Anthony Bender, held Cleveland in check until righty Calvin Faucher coughed up Ramírez’s go-ahead solo homer in the eighth.
“It is tough, especially when you overthink things,” said Junk, who has a 6.84 ERA over his last five starts. “That tends to [lead to] negative results when you try too hard. I've been a victim of that in the past, where you try too hard for a specific pitch or one AB, and it kind of gets away from you. Just because you want it so much, you get out of that focus in that present mindset, and you think about external outcomes or results. I think for me, the best thing is just staying present. It was a good fight today. I thought we played well, had a good chance to win, and unfortunately, we just came out on the other end.”
HITTING
June 13 through Aug. 3:
Runs per game -- 4.80 (sixth most)
Team OPS -- .743 (10th best)
Team AVG -- .260 (T-fourth best)
Aug. 4 through Tuesday:
Runs per game -- 3.67 (11th worst)
Team OPS -- .657 (seventh worst)
Team AVG -- .230 (11th worst)
Tasked with facing a left-handed starter, McCullough went with a right-handed-heavy lineup. Derek Hill, Dane Myers, Javier Sanoja and Heriberto Hernández started, while left-handed-hitting Jakob Marsee was placed lower in the order.
All three of Miami’s runs came in the then-game-tying fifth. Myers singled to left to drive in a two-out run. On the play, three-time Gold Glove-winning left fielder Steven Kwan’s throw got away from Ramírez and scored another run. Hernández then lined an RBI double off the left-field wall.
KYLE STOWERS
June 13 through Aug. 3:
1.170 OPS (second best among qualified hitters) and a .746 SLG (second best)
Aug. 4 through Tuesday:
.152 average with a .395 OPS and no extra-base hits
When Miami swept New York on Aug. 3, Stowers went deep and drove in a game-high four runs. He was starting to insert himself into the National League MVP conversation.
It has never been more apparent that when Stowers goes, the Marlins go. When he struggles, they struggle.
McCullough sat Stowers ( .704 OPS vs. LHP compared to .958 OPS vs. RHP) as a way to give him a breather. Miami had just completed 11 games in 10 days. Tuesday began a stretch of nine consecutive gamedays. Stowers wound up pinch-hitting in the sixth with a runner on first and flied out. He also flied out in the eighth with another runner on.
“With Kyle, it's mostly about timing and swing decisions,” hitting coach Pedro Guerrero said over the weekend. “When he’s on time, and he makes good decisions, we see what he can do.”