CHICAGO -- It’s still hard to tell if the Carlos Marmol from two years ago is back, but he put on a show Monday and stirred the crowd into a frenzy.

The struggling right-hander, who officially was removed from his closer role Friday, was used in a setup spot Monday out of necessity and took what was left of a crowd of 36,307 from anger to pure elation.

With new closer Rafael Dolis getting a day off after working two innings Sunday and James Russell closing for the day, Marmol was called upon in the eighth inning with the Cubs holding a two-run lead.

His control issues emerged quickly as he walked the first two batters he faced but then something seemed to click.

Marmol got Freddie Freeman to line out up the middle, but that out might have more to do with the infield positioning than what Marmol was doing on the mound. But then he struck out Brian McCann and Dan Uggla to end the threat.


With the crowd at full roar, Marmol pounded his chest and shouted words in Spanish that he felt wouldn’t be appropriate to repeat afterward.

On the strikeouts, Marmol was clearly a different pitcher, aggressive instead of passive. Some of the change seemed born out of embarrassment and it might have been an odd case of where the boos from the home crowd were actually a positive influence.

Marmol was asked afterward how he found his focus after walking the first two batters of the eighth inning.

“Well, by not listening to the fans,” Marmol said with a laugh, before admitting to something. “Well, you know what, that made me go because I needed to do better and throw strikes. That’s all.”

It has been something the coaching staff has been teaching, imploring and hoping for all along. Marmol has been asked to establish the fastball in the strike zone first and then go to the slider. On Monday, Marmol had that fastball up to as high as 96 mph, setting up the slider perfectly.

“I think after he walked [Michael] Bourn on the slider, he finally said ‘Heck, I have a good fastball and I better start using it,’” manager Dale Sveum said. “It was nice that he came back and threw fastballs for strikes and got Uggla swinging and a huge two-strike out on McCann with the slider, though. But he got ahead and threw fastballs for strikes the last two or three hitters.”

Marmol was practically beaming afterward as he made the first step in a potential return to form. It’s going to take outings better than this, but he finally did things the way the coaches had been requesting and it worked.

Does he have his swagger back now?

“You sure hope so,” Sveum said. “I never said he wasn’t going to close again or set up or pitch in the seventh inning. I told him to always be ready to pitch and to fight his way back to getting to that spot again to close ballgames.”