Adam Conley shakes off the funk with seven strikeouts

There was only one bright spot for the Miami Marlins during their 6-1 loss to the Washington Nationals on Tuesday, which snapped their four-game winning streak. The bright spot was embattled reliever Adam Conley.

Conley entered the game in the sixth inning tasked with preventing the deficit from being any more disastrous. He threw three shutout innings with only one hit allowed and seven strikeouts.

The left-hander started the season as one of the high leverage options in the bullpen but has struggled this year. He has entered the game with a 1-7 record and 8.00 ERA but after those three innings, he has 30 strikeouts in 30 innings this season.

Conley said in an interview during spring training that his primary focus is to throw the perfect pitch. With a bevy of breaking balls and a fastball that topped out at 97.4 mph, 11 of the 37 pitches he threw were swinging strikes.

Conley’s role has changed in recent weeks after he fell off the top of the bullpen. He entered the season as the primary left-handed option in high-leverage situations and split the setup role with Drew Steckenrider, who was the primary right-handed option before his season ending injury.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly said during the previous homestand that he “has been out of sync” and by adding length to his role would allow him to use more pitches. Conley started his career as a starting pitcher but was moved to the bullpen in 2018 after a 6.14 ERA in 2017. Relievers typically shrink their pitching arsenal in an effort to be more efficient in a single inning sample size. The three inning performance was his highest since being moved to the bullpen.

“Hopefully that is something that is a positive for him and is something that gets him on the right track and in the right direction for us,” Mattingly said. “Most of the stuff with Adam has been balls in bad spots and really not getting the ball where he needs to in the strike zone. We see 97 and 98 [mph] at times. But guys hit that if he’s just throwing in the zone.”

After that performance, it would not be surprising if Conley wasn’t available for the rest of the series.