With ‘big hit after big hit,’ Bryan De La Cruz proving his value to Miami Marlins

Before the season began, Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker specifically mentioned that he wanted to see what kind of player Bryan De La Cruz could become if he was given 500 at-bats. The outfielder had shown flashes of his potential prior to Schumaker’s arrival but still hadn’t put it together over a full year in the big leagues.

Well, De La Cruz has surpassed that benchmark, with 520 at-bats through games played Sunday.

So what does Schumaker think of De La Cruz’s performance?

“He kind of has proved us right,” Schumaker said.

De La Cruz enters the Marlins’ series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday with career-high marks in hits (134), doubles (30), home runs (19), RBI (73) and runs scored (56) while staying close to his career marks for batting average (.258, career .263) and on-base-plus-slugging (.732, career .739)

Of 19 home runs, eight have given the Marlins a lead. That includes his two-run home run in the eighth inning of Miami’s 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, Miami’s eighth win in 10 games to remain in the thick of the playoff race.

“He’s succeeded everywhere he’s been,” Schumaker said. “Big hit after big hit, and he’s got a low heartbeat, low pulse.”

De La Cruz added: “You want to show that. At the beginning of the year, I told myself I want to see who I really am. That’s what I’m seeing right now.”

That’s not to say everything has been perfect. De La Cruz has gone through his share of extended hot and cold patches this year.

In 79 games (75 starts) through the end of June, De La Cruz was among the top-50 players in baseball in total hits (84, tied for 24th), batting average (.281, 32nd), RBI (43, tied for 47th) and doubles (17, tied for 46th) while also hitting nine home runs and scoring 35 runs.

However, he then hit a rough spell in July and August, hitting just .215 over 49 games (47 starts) but still logged 13 doubles, seven home runs and 21 RBI.

De La Cruz has since returned to form in September, hitting .286 (10 for 35) with three home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored over the past nine games.

“I always say the end is the best,” De La Cruz said. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. Confidence. Once you are there, your head is focused on what we’re trying to do, getting to the end of the season and trying to pursue that goal of making the playoffs.”

David Robertson turning the corner?

Right-handed pitcher David Robertson, the veteran high-leverage reliever the Marlins acquired before the trade deadline, had himself a wild seventh inning on Sunday against the Phillies. It started as promising as could be, with strikeouts of Nick Castellanos and Edmundo Sosa.

And then he walked Kyle Schwarber. And gave up a single to Trea Turner. And issued another walk to Bryce Harper to load the bases.

But Robertson bore down from there, striking out Alec Bohm on three pitches to strand the bases loaded and set up De La Cruz’s go-ahead home run the next half inning. Robertson hopped and let out a scream of excitement as he made his way off the mound.

“Very emotional,” Robertson said. “I needed to get that out.”

The outing marked Robertson’s third consecutive scoreless appearance after beginning his Marlins tenure with an 8.18 ERA (13 earned runs in 11 innings). The Marlins, with a bullpen dominated by left-handed pitchers, are hoping this run helps Robertson reset for their postseason push.

“We need him to,” Schumaker said. “We need a right-hander to get righty’s out. That’s why we got him: To get in those situations and to get out of those situations. He’s done it before. It’s OK for guys to have hiccups every now and then. It stinks for him that he came over and had that happen right when he was traded, but we feel like the cream is gonna rise to the top. He’s been good for a long time. He’s going to be just fine and we’re going to keep throwing him in there because we believe in him.”

Marlins against teams in NL playoff picture

Heading into their series at the Brewers, the first of seven games Miami plays against Milwaukee over the next two weeks, the Marlins have at least a .500 record against every other team in the National League playoff race not named the Atlanta Braves.

Yes, Miami is 1-9 with three games left to play against Atlanta, which has MLB’s best record and became the first team this season to secure a playoff spot.

But look at the rest of the field.

Miami has a winning record against the Phillies (7-6), Chicago Cubs (4-2) and Arizona Diamondbacks (4-2) — the three teams that hold the NL’s three wild card spots entering Monday.

They also tied their season series against both the Cincinnati Reds (3-3) and San Francisco Giants (3-3), the two teams just behind Miami in the playoff hunt, as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers (3-3).

That’s important to note because the first tiebreaker for playoff spots is head-to-head record, so Miami has the edge over most of the teams it is competing against for postseason positioning should it come down to tiebreakers.

The second tiebreaker, which would apply for the Marlins if tied for a spot with the Reds or Giants, is intradivisional record — a team’s record against its division opponents.

Miami is 21-22 (.488 win percentage) against the NL East with nine divisional games left (six with the Mets, three with the Braves). Cincinnati is 19-27 against the NL Central with six divisional games left. San Francisco is 22-14 (.611) against the NL West with 16 divisional games left.