Marlins' second-half woes continue: 'Not where we want to be'

ARLINGTON -- To say the second half hasn’t gone according to plan for the Marlins would be an understatement. With a 5-14 record, only the D-backs (5-15) have been worse since the All-Star break.

And yet, despite Friday night’s 6-2 loss to the Rangers in their first game at Globe Life Field, the Marlins (58-53) remain just a half-game back of the final National League Wild Card spot because they continue to get outside help.

On Friday:

The Royals beat the Phillies (59-51)
The Pirates beat the Brewers (59-52)
The Nationals beat the Reds (59-53)
The Twins beat the D-backs (57-54)

But if Miami, which is just five games over .500 for the first time since June 5, wants to make the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2003, the club needs to take control of its destiny. The Marlins have won consecutive games just once since the All-Star break.

This week began a stretch of 22 straight games against clubs in the playoff hunt. Miami has lost four of five so far, including three to Philadelphia at home.

“We're always trying to win,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “We're never trying to lose. We're trying to win every single game. To say that like they need a sense of urgency, these guys are playing hard. We're just not winning right now.

“Nothing has changed as far as their effort level, the preparation. We're running into some tough arms, some tough teams, and we’ve got to figure out a way -- you're right -- to string some wins together. But it's not lack of effort or sense of urgency. They're going about it the right way, and this thing will turn.”

So what has been the issue?

It’s three-fold: starting pitching, an inconsistent bullpen and a lack of clutch hitting. All three surfaced in Friday’s series opener.

Left-hander Jesús Luzardo was chased after 5 1/3 innings having surrendered four runs, including three homers for just the second time in his career. Two of those came off the bat of Adolis García. In four second-half starts, Luzardo has completed six frames just once.

When the lineup scored a run for him in the first, Luzardo couldn’t get the shutdown inning in the bottom half of the frame. The same happened in the second. He threw 90 pitches in large part because the Rangers took him to six three-ball counts, a recurring second-half theme.

“Not where we want to be,” Luzardo said. “I feel like we're struggling a little bit trying to get in the win column more, and that starts with us as starting pitching. I feel like I take that real seriously that I've got to do a better job of starting off the game and keeping us in there longer.”

Righty Jorge López took over for Luzardo and walked the first batter he faced, then retired the next two to keep it a 4-2 ballgame. That wasn’t the case in the seventh, when he coughed up two runs and had to be pulled. Suddenly the Marlins were behind by four, a near-insurmountable task considering how the offense has been going of late.

The lineup has gone from 4.2 runs per game in the first half to just 3.47 in the second half. A big reason for that is the lack of production with runners in scoring position, going from a .266 average to .186 -- the second-worst differential behind the Rays.

That futility continued on Friday, as Miami went hitless in eight at-bats. In a pivotal moment with the tying runs in scoring position in the seventh, pinch-hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. popped out to third for the final out.

For the second consecutive game, the Marlins’ new-look lineup couldn’t spoil the debut of the opposing club’s Trade Deadline acquisition, in this case Jordan Montgomery (6 IP, 2 ER). It could be a combination of luck, opposing pitchers’ execution and players pressing.

“Guys are hitting some balls hard right at people,” said Jon Berti, who took Montgomery deep in the second. “Maybe some guys are trying to do a little too much. It's probably a combination of both. It's usually kind of how it is when you go through stretches like that. We've just got to simplify it, take every at-bat the same -- whether there's runners in scoring position or not -- and try and get a good pitch and put a good swing on it.”