Marlins call up Steckenrider

Reliever joins club for games in California

OAKLAND — Drew Steckenrider’s phone was busy buzzing Sunday evening for two reasons: dinner plans with Matt Juengel, his teammate at Triple-A New Orleans, and much bigger news from Arnie Beyeler, New Orleans’ manager.

Steckenrider was more anxious and excited about the latter. Beyeler had called Steckenrider earlier in the day with a message: Stay by your phone.

“After that, I kind of got the jitters and the goosebumps just getting all excited,” Steckenrider said Tuesday afternoon on his first day in the big leagues. “I put my phone on loud and I’m waiting for him to call me back. … I had about an hour and a half of just down time to where I was pretty much sitting there looking at the wall, waiting for the phone to ring, looking at the phone.

“Every time my phone buzzed, I have a different [sound] for my text tone and my ringtone. I knew it was a text, but I was still looking at it hoping it might be Arnie texting me.”

Eventually the call came, and Steckenrider, a righthanded reliever, learned he was headed to join the Marlins at Oakland Coliseum for two games against the Athletics.

The Marlins placed right-hander David Phelps on the bereavement list after a death in the family. Phelps is expected back Friday, so Steckenrider’s stay may be brief, though he doesn’t necessarily have to be the one to return to the minors upon Phelps’ return.

For now, Steckenrider, 26 and the Marlins’ ninth-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, will look to continue the success he had in the minors this year (1.25 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 26 strikeouts in 21 innings). He said his hard slider, which pairs nicely with his upper-90s fastball, is sharper now than it was in spring training.

After transitioning to full-time relief in 2016, Steckenrider said his control is better, too. And his background as a starter has helped him deal with pitching multiple innings at a time, which he has done regularly with New Orleans.

“Being a starter, I was comfortable always going back out for more than one inning,” Steckenrider said. “I worked a lot last year to really work on my direction, straight toward my target rather than going all over the place. Last year, I felt like was a big step for me as far as gaining a bunch of control.”

Chen gets PRP

Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen received a plateletrich plasma injection this week, said manager Don

Mattingly, who didn’t know of a timetable for Chen’s eventual return.

The treatment is meant to help promote healing in Chen’s left elbow’s partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Chen, who is on the disabled list with what the Marlins called “left arm fatigue,” also had a PRP injection last summer after discovering the UCL damage. He missed two months, though Mattingly wasn’t sure if that was a good comparison to this round.

Another new lineup

Mattingly rolled out another tweaked lineup Tuesday, this time with Giancarlo Stanton hitting second for the second time in his career. He also occupied the No. 2 hole on Sept. 16, 2016.

Mattingly said the move was in part to guard against too many lefties in a row, though as the bottom of the lineup turns back over to

Dee Gordon at the top, Miami had a run of four southpaws Tuesday.

“I just want to kind of have somebody dangerous in that two hole,” Mattingly said.

This was the Marlins’ 35th different lineup in 44 games. Mattingly said he would like to find one and stick with it, but it’s not as easy as simply deciding.

“I’d like to find one that works, as much as anything,” Mattingly said. “And if it works, I’d like to stick with it.”

LYNNE SLADKY/AP Marlins starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen received an injection this week to promote healing in his injured elbow.