MILWAUKEE — The Miami Marlins’ wild-card push got a big boost Tuesday when right-hander Henderson Alvarez got through a light bullpen session without any trouble and was cleared to return to the rotation Friday.
“He’s good,” manager Mike Redmond said. “He threw well, so he’s good to go for Friday. That’s good news for us.”
The Marlins hit two home runs in the ninth inning Tuesday to rally for a 6-3 victory over the Brewers. Miami has won three in a row and four of the last five and now sits 3 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the second National League wild-card spot.
Alvarez was pulled in the third inning of his start Sept. 1 because of a strained oblique and the initial prognosis was Alvarez could miss significant time.
But Alvarez recovered quickly enough to miss just one start and barring a setback, will face the Phillies on Friday in Philadelphia.
“We’re all fortunate that this wasn’t a year-ender for him and that he’s going to be able to come out and finish the season and hopefully win us some more ballgames,” Redmond said.
Though he also missed time with shoulder inflammation in August, Alvarez was named to the National League All-Star team this season and had a 2.88 ERA in 26 starts this season.
“He’s been able to fight through some stuff, no doubt, like a lot of guys do, but it seems like maybe he’s had a couple more than the average player, I guess,” Redmond said. “But, hey man, at the end of the day, he’s able to work through them, and that’s really all that matters.”
With Alvarez back, Redmond said he plans to push left-hander Brad Hand back by one day, to Saturday, and then adjust his rotation for the stretch run.