Don't look now, but Marmol has had three good outings in a row

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Carlos Marmol lost his grip on the closer's job in early May and wound up on the DL shortly after with a hamstring strain.

He's pitched three games since he has returned from the DL and has been something of a different pitcher.

Granted, three games is an incredibly small sample size, but Marmol has allowed just two walks and zero hits through the three innings, while striking out four. He has not allowed a run, lowering his ERA from 6.35 to 5.02.

His fastball has been consistently around 92, 93 mph, which isn't at the 95, 96 he was throwing in 2010 and before, but it's still a move in the right direction. He's been relying on the fastball a bit more, and has actually thrown it more than half the time this season, something he hasn't done since his rookie season of 2006.

Marmol hasn't been pitching in the high-leverage situations like a closer typically does, but either way, he looks to be at least on the road to rejuvenation, which would be a big boost to the Cubs bullpen.

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