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Marlins closer Kyle Barraclough was the National League’s best reliever in June Tavon Wilson Jersey , which makes him a trade target in July.
The hard-throwing right-hander was chosen NL reliever of the month, an honor that will assume a prominent place in his collection, partly because there’s little competition.
”I don’t really have many items on my trophy shelf,” Barraclough said Monday. ”A high school championship, maybe. I try not to pay much attention to individual awards. I like to win games.”
As the trade deadline approaches, Barraclough’s recent dominance makes him attractive to contending teams looking to shore up their bullpens. And with the Marlins in a rebuilding mode, they’ll listen to offers.
Barraclough allowed one hit in 36 at-bats in June, tossed 12 scoreless innings and converted all seven save chances while the Marlins went 14-14, their best month this season.
Barraclough began this week on a streak of 20 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings dating to May 8. He had a .085 batting average against for the season, lowest in the majors. His ERA of 0.99 was fourth-lowest.
He moved into the closer’s role a month ago for the first time in his career, and the change brought stability to a bullpen that had been one of Miami’s weakest areas.
”Kyle has been great Greg Zuerlein Jersey ,” manager Don Mattingly said. ”Getting that reliability back there has been really good for us.”
Barraclough has a fastball that clocks in the upper 90s, and in 2016-17 he averaged 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. His whiffs are down slightly this year, but walks also are down thanks to improved command.
”Attacking the strike zone has been the big thing the last two months or so,” he said. ”Getting ahead of the hitters has put everyone on the defensive and allowed me to use my off-speed stuff.”
The result is more efficient outings. Barraclough’s pitch counts for his June saves, all requiring three outs, were 13, 11, 14, 14, 11, 10 DeMarcus Ware Jersey , 10.
”You don’t need to throw 25 pitches and strike everyone out,” he said. ”A groundout is just as good as a strikeout.”
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DENVER — The Colorado Rockies begin a weekend series Friday with the Miami Marlins, hoping to finish a homestand by taking advantage of another National League East laggard.
A 6-4 win over the New York Mets on Thursday enabled the Rockies to take three of four games in that series. The Marlins (29-46), who were off Thursday, have the worst road record (15-25) in the NL but have won nine of their past 16 games overall. They are 3-3 on a road trip that included stops in Baltimore and San Francisco and will end in Denver.
“This has been a good little three-game swing for us,” Rockies manager Bud Black said after his team beat the Mets for the third straight time. “We were scuffling a little bit on the mound. We were starting to hit. So collectively, these three hopefully produce a little momentum going forward.”
The Rockies (37-38) broke their major-league record-tying string of allowing at least eight runs in nine consecutive home games but have won a season-high tying three straight games at Coors Field where they are 14-20.
Jon Gray (6-7 5.89) will start for the Rockies against Marlins left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (2-3, 5.91). Gray is 0-2, 7.36 in his past two starts, the most recent Sunday at Texas where he gave up one run in five innings and left after giving up five runs and facing four batters in the sixth. The last was Jurickson Profar, who hit a two-run homer that gave the Rangers a 6-5 lead. Gray ended up with a no-decision in what became a 13-12 loss to the Rangers.
Gray is 1-2 Ryan Grant Jersey , 6.75 in four starts against the Marlins and 3-3, 6.45 in seven starts at home this season.
Chen gave up three runs in six innings Saturday at Baltimore and won 5-4. It was his first victory in nine starts since he made his 2018 debut against the Rockies in Miami and held them to one run in 5 1/3 innings.
Chen is 1-3, 8.88 in six starts on the road this season. He’s 1-1, 7.07 in three starts against the Rockies and will be pitching at Coors Field for the first time.
The Marlins scored three runs in the ninth Monday to beat the Giants 5-4. They are coming off a 6-5 loss Wednesday to the Giants. In that game, Miami came back from a 5-1 deficit and scored two runs in the seventh and two more in the ninth before J.B. Shuck struck out to end the game with runners on first and second. For a young team in a total rebuild like the Marlins, a stirring comeback win followed two games later by a close-but-not-quite effort can help.
“If we’re going to grow,” veteran Marlins outfielder Cameron Maybin said after Wednesday’s game, “these are the kinds of series that you need to be in. The type of series where the fans come at you. I think series like this can help a young team like us grow, more than anything.”
Unlike the Marlins, the Rockies, an NL wild-card team last year Sherrick McManis Jersey , have realistic aspirations of returning to the postseason, something they have never done in consecutive seasons.
A series win against Miami would complete a 5-2 homestand for the Rockies, a series sweep would make it 6-1 Regardless, a stumble against the Marlins would be ill-advised.
“We know that we’re a good team that’s got to take care of business, especially when we play at home and play teams that everybody will say on paper we’re going to win those games,” Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said. “I think we’re making progress. We’re hitting the ball well. Pitching is making progress, too. We believe in each other. I think this is the perfect time for us to continue to play good baseball and finish strong the first half.”
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