No shortage of save chances now for Cishek

MIAMI -- When your closer is getting plenty of opportunities, it's a good thing.

On the flip side, the concern of winning close games nightly is that your closer might be getting too much work.

Marlins closer Steve Cishek collected his 21st save on Friday night, working a scoreless ninth inning in a 2-0 win against Pittsburgh.

"That's a good problem to have -- your closer is in there four, five days in a row," manager Mike Redmond said. "I couldn't get him into the game the first two months. Now he's pitching a lot, which is great."

Cishek has now appeared in four of the Marlins' past five games, picking up saves in all four. He needed 23 pitches to get out of a first-and-third jam on Friday, and he struck out two.

In those four games, Cishek threw a total of 58 pitches.

Redmond and pitching coach Chuck Hernandez are closely monitoring Cishek's workload. If the closer needs a breather, Mike Dunn, Chad Qualls and A.J. Ramos are options to close.

"We really keep track of their workload," Redmond said. "We had hoped [Thursday] we would be able to keep him out of that game, but it didn't happen."

The Marlins beat the Rockies, 5-3, on Thursday at Coors Field. The lead was five runs entering the ninth inning, but Cishek was called in with no outs after two runs scored while Kevin Slowey was in the game. Cishek was able to lock down the win.

"We'll continue to monitor him day to day," Redmond said. "He looks good. He's confident, and he's doing a great job. Sometimes it goes in spurts. You'll be in three, four, five in a row, and then you'll be out three, four, five in a row."