Indians pound Fernandez
CLEVELAND Jose Fernandez couldn’t have been happier with the way the night began. Before he took the mound Saturday at Progressive Field, the Marlins had given him a 3-0 lead.
Soon he was fussing and fidgeting and kicking at the dirt in disgust.
Not what the Marlins wanted to see fromtheir ace, who obviously was out of sorts from the first pitch in a 8-3 loss to the Indians.
Not when you’re a floundering team clinging to diminishing hopes for the playoffs on a trip that has turned disastrous (1-5 with Sunday’s finale remaining), dropping theMarlins to .500 (68-68) for the first time sinceMay1 (12-12).
Cleveland rocked fromthe start.
“They’re a really good team. I was trying to battle, man,” Fernandez said. “I didn’t even know. I was thinking about rolling the ball to the plate.”
It took only four pitches for Fernandez to give back most of the lead on Jason Kipnis’ two-run homer. The first three batters whacked extra-base hits, with doubles by Coco Crisp (in the veteran’s first plate appearance since returning to the Indians) and Francisco Lindor sandwiched around the homer.
It was a monumental whupping. Before their first out in the third inning the Indians had five doubles. Along with the Kipnis homer, that was already the most extra-base hits Fernandez had ever allowed in a game.
“I was trying to make a pitch and they hit it, trying to make another pitch and they hit it,” he said. “I got hit. I got hit really hard. But, you learn fromit.”
It was also the first time Fernandez lost a start in which he had a three-run lead.
Back-to-back doubles by the Indians’ No. 8 and 9 hitters, Tyler Naquin and him Roberto Perez, tied the game in the second. Carlos Santana put Cleveland ahead in the third after Lindor led off with his second double.
Fernandez (14-7) was coming off back-to-back starts in which he didn’t allowarunover13 innings, and hehada streakof14consecutive scoreless innings since hisAug.18start at Cincinnati.
But too many of his pitcheswere dangerously up in the zone and didn’t have the usual bite, though his fastball registered up to 99 mph.
“I thought his stuff was good. They kind of jumped him early with the fastball and kind of stayed on him the whole game,” Marlins managerDonMattingly said.
“He hung in there, but they did a good job with him, stacked that lineup with lefties. But you also have to be able to change speeds, and that’s the one thing I think they kept us fromdoing.”
The 12 hits Fernandez allowed in 5 inningswere a career high – he gave up11 at Tampa Bay on Oct. 1.
Consecutive two-out singlesbyCrisp, KipnisandLindor in the sixth put an end to the beating, with two runs scoring on Lindor’s fourth hit of the night. One of them resulted fromIchiroSuzuki’s errant throwfromright field.
That rendered one of the seven runs Fernandez allowed unearned. He started the night with a 2.79 ERA and ended at 3.03.
Asked if the Indians have the toughest lineup he’s faced, Fernandez said, “I’m not going to say that. But these guys and the Cubs, I would think are the two toughest lineups that I’ve faced.”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t the worst beating he has absorbed. The Braves routed himfor nineruns, also in52⁄ innings, on July 2 in Atlanta, thoughonly six ofthemwere earned.
Saturday continued a troubling trend for Fernandez. He remained without a winontheroadsinceMay26 at Tampa Bay, a span of six starts during which he is 0-4 Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez throws out Indians right fielder Lonnie Chisenhall on a bunt attempt in the third.
away fromMarlins Park.
Uncharacteristically, Fernandez didn’t record his first strikeout until the10th batter he faced when he got Crisp in the second.
The game seemed headed in a different direction when the Marlins broke out with three runs off Trevor Bauer when four of the first five batters reached.
ChristianYelich’s two-run double gave Miami its first lead in the series. Yelich moved to third on J.T. Realmuto’s single and scored on Derek Dietrich’s sacrifice fly.
That was Dietrich’s first plate appearance at
Progressive Field, near wherehe grewupina Cleveland suburbandstarredatSt. Ignatius High. It came with about10 family members, including his grandmother Giovanna Demeter whose late husband Steve played in the majors, and numerous friends and acquaintances in the stands.
It was the last feel-good moment for Miami.
Unlike Fernandez, Bauer quickly adjusted and settled in. The single by Realmuto would be the last hit Bauer (10-6) allowed until Ichiro singled leading off the ninth.
Marlins at Indians 4:10 p.m., Progressive ON THE AIR Field, Cleveland
940-AM, 710-AM (Spanish) ON THE MOUND RHP Tom Koehler (9-10, 4.02) vs. RHP Danny Salazar (11-6, 3.88): Koehler’s run of two strong months was interrupted in his last outing when he gave up five runs and 10 hits in five innings to the Mets. He had gone at least six innings in his previous seven starts and hadn’t given up as many as five runs since June 29 at Detroit. … Salazar, who earned an All-Star selection with a sizzling first half, is 1-3, 9.00 since the break. But his most recent outing was more indicative of his early work, despite taking a loss at Texas, as he struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings while limiting the Rangers to two runs.
UPCOMING SERIES Monday-Wednesday, vs. Sept. 12-14, at Braves
Phillies; Sept. 9-11 vs. Dodgers;