Marlins Riddle Continues To Ride Bench, Miami Wins In Extras

Miami Marlins shortstop J.T. Riddle was not in the lineup again on Saturday night as Miguel Rojas played the position in a 4-3 win over the New York Mets in 11 innings.

CBSsports.com reported that J.T. Riddle was once again in the Miami Marlins lineup for the third consecutive game. The 26-year-old has two hits in his last 17 at-bats. Miguel Rojas scored the winning run in the victory for the Marlins, who needed a shot of adrenaline after a poor start to the month of August.

It is not known if the move to bench Riddle is temporary or when manager Don Mattingly may write him in the starting lineup.

"“Miguel Rojas gets another start at shortstop as Riddle is slashing .176/.202/.286 in 94 plate appearances since the start of July,” according to the story on cbssports.com."

This has not been a season to write home about for Riddle, who started the season on the disabled list, then was optioned to Triple-A New Orleans before being brought up to the Majors in late May.

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The roster for the Marlins will expand on Sept. 1, which could mean there will be more players vying for time on the field. This could mean Riddle gets fewer opportunities to improve on his recent hitting woes. For the season, he is batting .219 with five home runs and 21 RBI.

Prior to Saturday night, the Marlins had just one win in their last 10 contests. As Joe Frisaro of MLB.com explained, this victory was an uphill climb from the start.

"“They [the team] rallied from three runs back, and were backed by 6 1/3 innings of scoreless relief by the bullpen,” he wrote."

The bullpen had been an issue in recent weeks as Mattingly made a change to the closer’s role, removing Kyle Barraclough, who subsequently was placed on the disabled list. The Marlins will use a closer by committee approach before determining who will hold the role down on a full-time basis.

Mattingly told the media Saturday night it was a welcomed changed seeing the team fight back and coming away with a much-needed victory after the way the team has struggled lately.

"“It was nice to see a little execution there in a couple of different areas,” Mattingly said. “A lot of times in those games, everybody is trying to hit a homer. Miggy took the ball the other way and got a hit. Mags does his job. Some good stuff happened tonight.”"

As for Riddle, the Marlins play their final game of the series with the Mets on Sunday. There is no word yet if he will be in the lineup Sunday afternoon.