Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the Reds Tuesday in an extra-innings loss. More impressively, he struck out three while walking a batter. It was his second consecutive impressive performance -- he pitched a perfect ninth Monday against the Reds for his 32nd save -- after Marmol gave up four runs and took a loss on Saturday. The implosion caused Mike Quade to hand Sean Marshall the save on Sunday, but it appears that Marmol is back in the good graces of management.

Carlos Marmol pitched a perfect ninth Monday against the Reds for his 32nd save. Sean Marshall got the save Sunday after Marmol gave up four runs and took a loss on Saturday, but the Cubs are standing by their usual closer for the month. Marmol has remained good much more often than not, but his bad outings have been particularly hideous.

Carlos Marmol notched his 31st save Tuesday, striking out two in a perfect ninth inning against the Giants. Marmol hasn't allowed a hit or a walk since blowing a save August 16 against the Astros (allowing a grand slam in the ninth inning for his eighth blown opportunity of the year). Despite a dip in the velocity of his fastball, Marmol is on a roll, posting five consecutive perfect innings.

Carlos Marmol hasn't allowed a hit since blowing a save August 16 against the Astros. Marmol has again found his groove, despite a dip in the velocity of his fastball. The right-hander has tallied 77 strikeouts in 61 1/3 innings and has recorded 30 saves. Of course, he's also blown eight opportunities.

Cubs manager Mike Quade isn't worried about drop in velocity. The lack of zip on his fastball has been brought to light more recently, but Marmol's velocity has been down all year, as Fangraphs.com shows his average velocity at 91.8 mph, down from 94.1 last season. ''I just think he's mechanically so unorthodox, so tough to keep in line, that to me is probably as much of it as anything,'' Quade said. ''We'll keep a close eye on Marmol, as we do with all of them... It's an ongoing thing with Marm. He's had a wonderful run here, and this is the first real adversity I think that he's had in his career. But you deal with it, and the rest part of it we'll keep an eye on.''

Pitching for the first time since an ugly blown save and loss Tuesday, Carlos Marmol worked a perfect ninth in a tie game Friday against the Cardinals. Another poor outing today could have gotten Marmol stripped of the closer's role again. Since he was strong in getting a strikeout and two groundouts, he should get the next save opp the Cubs generate.

Carlos Marmol imploded against the offensively-bereft Astros Tuesday, allowing a grand slam in the ninth inning to send the Cubs to a shocking 6-5 loss. It was his eighth blown save of the year. Marmol entered the ninth looking at one of baseball's easiest save opportunities: A three-run lead against Houston. After getting lead-off hitter Jimmy Paredes to line out, things got ugly. J.B. Shuck singled to right and took second on a wild pitch. Clint Barmes singled and pinch-hitter Matt Downs walked to load the bases. Marmol then served up a grand slam to pinch-hitter Brian Bogusevic, who doubled both his season total of home runs and RBI on one pitch. Coming into the game, Marmol was 10-for-10 saving games since returning to the closer's role, though his control wasn't sharp during that stretch. Tuesday's implosion could get Cubs manager Mike Quade re-thinking his ninth-inning alignment. If he makes a change, Sean Marshall would be next-in-line for saves.

Carlos Marmol notched his 26th save Thursday despite retiring just three of the seven Nationals he faced. Marmol loaded the bases on two walks and a single before getting his first out of the inning. He then allowed a run on an infield single before recovering to retire Brian Bixler and Rick Ankiel. Had the Cubs not already used both Sean Marshall and Kerry Wood, there's a good chance Marmol would have been taken out at some point during the inning. However, he's now 7-for-7 saving ames since returning to the closer's role.

Carlos Marmol earned save No. 20 with a scoreless ninth Sunday against the Cardinals. It was Marmol's first save opportunity since he was put back into the closer's role. He did give up three runs while moping up in Friday's loss, but that's the only appearance in which he's given up runs in his last six trips to the mound.

Carlos Marmol tossed a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation in Saturday's win over the Astros. It wasn't easy. Marmol gave up a single to Jose Altuve and hit Carlos Corporan to begin the ninth inning. However, he was able to get Jason Michaels to ground into a fielder's choice, Michael Bourn on a strikeout and Angel Sanchez to fly out for the final out of the ballgame. We're not convinced he's fully back, but he's expected to get the next save opportunity.