Marlins continue to stumble with 7th straight loss

MIAMI -- Not that he hasn’t faced obstacles as a first-time manager up until this point, but Skip Schumaker is being tasked with his biggest challenge yet.

After Friday night’s 6-1 loss to the Rockies at loanDepot park, the Marlins’ season-high skid is now at seven. Miami remains winless in the second half and 1 1/2 games out of a National League Wild Card spot.

“You've just got to change it up somehow, figure out how to get these guys to smile when they're coming in tomorrow and change the energy a little bit,” Schumaker said. “They've been really good coming into the ballpark, and they always feel like today's the day that it's going to change. When I was looking at managers and their reactions, it's just always been kind of like, ‘We're going to get through this.’

“And I think you kind of find out who you are when you're going through these valleys. It's easy when you're winning coming into the ballpark and you're having fun and everyone's laughing and smiling. You kind of find out who you are and what your work looks like and what kind of teammate you are and what kind of coach you are when you go through these valleys. We have a lot of games left, and our team feels good.”

Here are three areas where things have gone wrong since the All-Star break:

Not a great start
Schumaker continuously preaches the importance of the starting pitching setting the tone. It’s crucial for a club like the Marlins, who are built around pitching and unable to outslug most teams.

In the first half, the Marlins’ rotation had the seventh-highest WAR (8.2) and 11th-lowest ERA (4.11) in the Majors. Through seven second-half games, the starters have gone five or more innings three times with only one quality start. Their 6.83 ERA is in the bottom four of MLB.

Braxton Garrett hasn’t looked like the breakout star he was through 17 first-half starts when he posted a 3.63 ERA and the club went 14-3 in those outings. The 25-year-old has surrendered 10 runs in 7 2/3 innings (11.74 ERA) in two second-half starts.

“Continue to trust in myself,” said Garrett, who permitted three homers. “I think just my cutter not getting to the spot right now is huge. Felt like my slider got better today, which is good. Kind of made some tweaks with that. Just talk with [pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr.] to figure out what I can do better, and do that.”

Lack of clutch hits
Miami had a chance to respond to C.J. Cron’s two-run homer in the first, but the club’s inability to come through with runners in scoring position continued.

Bryan De La Cruz popped out to Cron in foul territory, stranding two. The Marlins didn’t have another opportunity until the seventh, when De La Cruz and Jean Segura reached to open the frame. Miami mustered just one run on a Nick Fortes RBI groundout.

Since the All-Star break, the Marlins are hitting .171 with runners in scoring position (27th in MLB), compared to .266 in the first half (fourth best in the NL).

“We're hitting very well when there's no runners in scoring position, for some reason when there's runners in scoring position, things are not coming out right,” De La Cruz said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “We keep asking ourselves the same question. We really think we can do it, just keep working hard, know that tomorrow's another day and that you’ve got to keep pushing and know that we're going to come out of this.”

Stars not shining
While it was a regular occurrence during the first half to see a different player contributing every day, it also helped that All-Stars Luis Arraez and Jorge Soler were producing on a consistent basis. Both have slumped in the early going.

Arraez’s average has dipped from .383 to .373 (8-for-30) and Soler is slugging just .276.

“I don't think they're tired,” Schumaker said. “It's tough to hit .400. He's hitting 370. I think he's going to be just fine. [Soler], he's been in a little bit of a funk, but he's had a couple of big hits. … They're not pressing. They're not panicking. I think they're more frustrated that they're not coming through for their teammates more than selfishly [worrying about] their numbers, which shows you what kind of human being they are and what kind of teammate they are and how valuable they are to us. I think everyone's just looking forward to snapping out of it.”