Marlins' bats stay silent behind inefficient Puk

NEW YORK -- Although the Marlins lost another close game, manager Skip Schumaker loved the way his team battled in Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Miami had problems against Carlos Rodón, who allowed just two unearned runs over six-plus innings. But the Marlins battled back in the seventh and made it a one-run game. Josh Bell scored on a groundout by Jesús Sánchez. Nick Gordon followed with a sacrifice fly, scoring Jazz Chisholm Jr.

"They had a lot of righties in the lineup that we thought the changeup would work well against," Rodón said. "Today, I had it. The profile was good and the location was good."

In the eighth, Miami put the potential tying run on base with one out against right-handed reliever Ian Hamilton, but Jake Burger and Bell grounded out to end the threat. Although the Marlins ended up losing for the 11th time in 12 games this season, Schumaker took away some positives.

“I’m just proud of the fight. We had the right guys up at the right time, we just couldn’t cash in," Schumaker said. "If they keep doing that, we are going to be OK. Putting pressure on the defense and getting the right guys up at the right time -- we couldn’t cash in today. We have to figure out a way to put together consistent at-bats. I feel like we are putting together good at-bats, just not consistently back to back. We’ll get there.”

Miami’s offense isn’t the only problem. The pitching staff has had a hard time giving the club length. Left-hander A.J. Puk, a reliever by trade, needed 98 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs (one earned) and walked five batters.

“When he is on the attack, he is fine. We have to get him in the strike zone [and] on the attack more consistently,” Schumaker said. “He is just shooting himself in the foot with the walks. We have to get him deeper in games with those same amount of pitches. He didn’t give up too many hits.”

Although the Marlins are not winning often, shortstop Tim Anderson refuses to give up.

“We just take it day to day. It could be a lot worse,” Anderson said. “The energy is better and the vibes are good. Everyone wants to come to the ballpark and get better. That’s a plus.”