MIAMI -- The Miami Marlins called up right-hander Kendry Flores prior to Tuesday's game against the Chicago Cubs.
Flores, acquired in the offseason along with right-handed reliever Luis Castillo from the San Francisco Giants for National League Comeback Player of the Year Casey McGehee, had gone 3-3 with a 2.06 ERA in nine starts with Double-A Jacksonville this season.
"(He) has very good credentials, has put together a nice start in Double-A, and we had our evaluators as well as our roving pitching coach and Double-A pitching coach update us on where he was right now," manager Dan Jennings said. "They felt he could come in and help us. He's pretty excited obviously to make the jump from Double-A to the major leagues. Opportunity presents itself that he's ready to go. We pulled him from his start yesterday, so he was scheduled to start down there. He's rested and ready."
The 23-year-old righty from the Dominican Republic is 34-27 with a 3.32 ERA in 99 games (94 starts) in the minors since 2009. In 2014 with the Giants organization, he pitched for Single-A Advanced San Jose, going 4-6 with a 4.09 ERA in 20 starts.
Miami plans on using him in long relief. With the Marlins headed to Colorado and then Toronto for an Interleague matchup over the next week, they wanted to have an extra pitcher available.
"The fact that he, No. 1, he had great angle to his fastball, showed a plus curveball at times," Jennings said of what the organization saw in him. "At that time our advanced scout -- Mike Goff -- had managed him. Goffy obviously is our bench coach (now). We had a little insight there to know what he was about makeup wise and how he showed the ability to use his pitches."
This comes as the corresponding move for Monday night's transaction, when the Marlins optioned former closer Steve Cishek to the Suns to work on mechanics.
Miami already has rookie Jose Urena in the rotation with three starters -- Mat Latos, Jarred Cosart and All-Star Henderson Alvarez -- on the 15-day disabled list. He is 0-2 with a 7.24 ERA in four games (two starts) this season. Urena allowed three runs on four hits with three walks, a hit batter and four strikeouts over six innings of a 5-1 loss to the Cubs on Monday.
You can follow Christina De Nicola on Twitter @CDeNicola13 or email her at cdenicola13@gmail.com.
