After a winning June, Marlins ‘have to be able to sustain’ to remain in playoff hunt

When Sandy Alcantara got Edmundo Sosa to hit into a double play in the ninth inning on Wednesday, he did more than seal his complete game and the Miami Marlins’ 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

He also sealed another winning month for the Marlins.

Miami went 15-13 over its 28-game June schedule for the club’s second winning month of the season. The Marlins also went 12-8 in April.

‘I got it’: Sandy Alcantara throws complete game as Miami Marlins rally past Cardinals

That’s normally a good thing.

But Miami is still trying to make up ground because of how bad its one other month of games played this season unfolded.

A 7-19 record in May will do that.

So the Marlins are 34-40 on the season, 12 games behind the New York Mets for the top spot in the National League East and seven games behind the Cardinals for the NL’s third and final wild card spot with one month of games left to play before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.

A serious push would need to be made now for the Marlins to stay relevant in the playoff race.

“We have to be able to sustain, get ourselves going,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I look at these races and you look at where we’re at with the Mets, but you also look at the wild cards and the teams that would be fighting for that and that’s not out of the realm of possibility. It’s a matter of starting to play better baseball and being consistent.

“Just trying to get our guys to feel like every game is important.”

If nothing else, their July schedule provides them the opportunity to gain footing in the race.

Of their 28 games this month, 18 are against teams with sub-.500 records. That includes 15 games against three of the NL’s bottom four teams in the Nationals (Friday through Monday), Pittsburgh Pirates (July 11-14 in Miami; July 22-24 in Pittsburgh) and Cincinnati Reds (July 25-28 in Cincinnati).

So what needs to be done for the Marlins to be successful in July and keep their low-key hopes to stay in the playoff race alive? Here are a few factors to consider.

The rest of the rotation not named Sandy Alcantara needs to step up.

Alcantara has firmly established himself as one of baseball’s top pitchers this season.

Entering play Thursday, he is the only pitcher with multiple complete games (he threw his second Wednesday), the only pitcher with at least 100 innings under his belt (he has 115 1/3 innings pitched; the Seattle Mariners’ Robbie Ray is second with 97 2/3 innings) and the only pitcher to have 10 outings of at least seven innings pitched with no more than two earned runs allowed.

Alcantara had a 1.89 ERA in six June starts, with five of the 10 earned runs he surrendered coming in one outing.

The rest of the Marlins’ rotation? That’s another story as the group experienced a noticeable drop-off.

Pablo Lopez compiled a 5.34 ERA (17 earned runs in 28 2/3 innings) over his five starts. Trevor Rogers looked better in his final two starts against the Mets but still had a 7.06 ERA (17 earned runs in 21 2/3 innings) in June and threw five innings or fewer in all five of his starts.

Braxton Garrett and Daniel Castano are currently rounding out the rotation with injuries to Jesus Luzardo, Edward Cabrera and Cody Poteet.

The offense needs to keep producing.

Miami averaged nearly five runs per game in June, about a one run improvement over their first two months of the season.

A few elements come into play here.

First, the Marlins hit .295 with runners in scoring position this month, a 75-point improvement from their .220 season average entering June. That helps to explain why they had the increased run production despite their base stats in June staying relatively on par with their production from April and May.

(For example, the Marlins’ OPS in June was .714 compared to .700 in both April and May)

The Marlins also had contributions from multiple players throughout the lineup.

Miami also hit 34 home runs this month, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. (seven) and Jesus Sanchez (five) leading the way.

Seven players recorded at least 10 RBI, with Chisholm (18) and Garrett Cooper (16) leading the way.

Keep winning close games.

The Marlins went 6-3 in one-run games in June after going 6-14 in such outings in April and May.

And start winning more on the road, too.

The Marlins are 19-16 at loanDepot park this year but just 15-24 away from Miami. In June, the Marlins were 9-4 at home compared to 6-9 on the road.

Their schedule in July is pretty evenly split — 15 games on the road, 13 games at home.

Hope the back of the bullpen holds up.

Tanner Scott appears to have taken over the closer role, converting six of seven save opportunities while holding opponents without an earned run in 10 of 11 outings.

Anthony Bass has been nearly perfect in the seventh inning this season, as well and Steven Okert has carved out a role as a lefty setup man.