Fernandez, Marlins take Round II 9-0
With last Tuesday’s loss fresh in their minds, when a 1-0 deficit had never looked so large, the Braves took the field against Jose Fernandez and the Marlins Tuesday, knowing there wasn’t much room for error.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez stacked the Braves lineup with lefties. Tyler Pastornicky took a chance on scoring from third on a grounder back to Fernandez on the infield. Alex Wood knew better than to try to repeat his feat of a career-high 11 strikeouts again, so he didn’t bother.
But it all just played right into Fernandez’s hands. He beat Wood at the pitch-to-contact game, deked Pastornicky on the infield play, and cruised – not only by last Tuesday’s standards by anybody’s – to a 9-0 win.
The rematch of Fernandez vs. Wood turned into no match at all, after Wood gave up a career-high 10 hits and was charged with seven earned runs, one more than he had allowed in his first five starts of the season.
Fernandez pitched eight shutout innings for the second straight time against the Braves, this time allowing only two hits. He “only” struck out eight this time, not his career high 14, but he ended his outing with a flourish – striking out the side in the eighth. And he coaxed nine groundball outs, against a lineup weighted with five lefties.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to beat Fernandez,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “…You still got to beat Cy Young every once in a while.”
Fernandez is now 3-1 in four starts against the Braves, allowing only three earned runs in 29 innings (0.93 ERA), walking seven and striking out 35.
Fernandez moved to 12-0 with a 1.00 ERA in 19 career starts at Marlins Park where the lovefest for the Cuban sensation and defending NL rookie of the year, continued. The Braves, meanwhile, have lost only twice in their past seven games – both to Fernandez by a combined score of 10-0.
“It’s one of those things we’ve just got to put behind us if we lose 1-0 or 9-0, it’s still a loss,” Freddie Freeman said. “We’ve got to go on against (Nathan) Eovaldi tomorrow.”
With runners second and third of a 0-0 game in the third, Fernandez got the better of Pastornicky on a groundball on the infield by Ramiro Pena. Fernandez gave Pastornicky his best pump fake – faking a throw to first base - and then threw home after Pastornicky broke for the plate for the third out of the inning.
The Marlins came back with a three-run bottom of the third inning, starting with a Christian Yelich triple, ending with a Giancarlo Stanton two-run homer. Ed Lucas singled in front of Ryan Doumit in left field to keep the inning alive.
Stanton, who got Wood for a two-run double a week ago, made it a two-run home run this time around. Stanton had pulled an inside change-up a week ago. This time he sent a curveball to the opposite field, into the Marlins bullpen in right field.
Lucas, a former Braves farmhand, came off the disabled list Tuesday, just in time to extend his hitting streak to six games against the Braves. He went 3-for-4.
Wood, who watched his ERA climb from 1.54 to 2.93, gave up seven runs to match his career high – also against the Marlins last Sept. 1.
Wood said after last Tuesday’s start, he knew it would be hard to trying to top his 11-strikeout night of last week. He put his efforts into pitching ahead in the count, pitching to contact. But it was clear by the fifth his night had gotten away from him. He gave up a leadoff walk before allowing three straight hits – including a two-run single by Marcell Ozuna – before he was replaced by Anthony Varvaro.
“I didn’t have a very good breaking ball and obviously a lot of pitches left over the plate,” Wood said. “They made some adjustments from last week and any time you have back-to-back starts against a team that swings it well at home that’s tough in and of itself. You can’t make a whole lot of mistakes and obviously there were a whole lot of mistakes made by me tonight, a few I wish I had back.”
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