Colorado Rockies morning after: 3 things we learned from the Marlins sweep

1. Daniel Bard regains consistency in role as closer.

The right-hander earned his 18th save of the season, a career-best, by tossing a scoreless inning to wrap up Colorado’s 7-4 win Saturday night.

He has now converted eight of his last nine save opportunities since June 28. In the Miami outing, he thew 14 of his 17 pitches for strikes.

“Overall, the last six weeks I think the ball-strike ratio has been much better,” Black told media, including Rox Pile, after Friday night’s victory about Bard’s recent success.

“He is landing his pitches in the strike zone and that’s a key for any closer. You can’t expect to have consistent performances, especially in the ninth inning, when you are behind hitters or you walk guys. It just comes back to bite you too often. Daniel has done a good job I think overall of getting his pitches where they need to be in the strike zone.

“We are all proud of him in that regard in how he is handling this role over an entire season as opposed to what happened last year in 60 games,” added Black.