Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Marlins snap skid in L.A.
LOSANGELES— Twenty of the 86 pitches Jose Fernandez threw late Friday night at Dodger Stadium didn’t find the strike zone. Seven of those came in the first inning and four others during a sixth-inning intentional walk.
Fernandez didn’t just pound the strike zone. He left it a bloody, pulpy mess.
Take away the intentional pass and the Dodgers saw an eye-popping 80.1 percent of 82 pitches for strikes during Fernandez’s six innings. A two-run seventh put the rookie in line for his second win in as many starts as the Marlins rallied from 3-0 down to win 5-4 at Dodger Stadium and snap a three-game losing streak.
Chris Coghlan just missed a pinch-hit homer in the seventh, but his double off the wall put runners on second and third for Juan Pierre. He delivered an RBI single and what proved to be the game-winner scored on an Adeiny Hechavarria double play.
Playing in his second major league game, second baseman Derek Dietrich picked an ideal time for his first homer. It came with two on, two out and knotted the game in the fourth.
Fernandez gave up a first-inning, three-run homer to Adrian Gonzalez and blanked the Dodgers the rest of the way. Starting with his 14th pitch, Fernandez threw 27 of 28 strikes, including 17 in a row. Through four innings his strike percentage was 83.9.
“It’s incredibly hard,” said closer Steve Cishek, who pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save. “You don’t see many people doing that. We were trying to figure out where his pitch count was and he’d thrown 63 pitches and at that time he’d thrown like 10 balls. We were like, ‘Holy crap.’ I didn’t know it was 17 in a row.”
The first two Dodger batters of the game, including Carl Crawford (3 for 3 off Fernandez), got ahead 1-0. The next15 in a row and 22 of the final 25 saw a firstpitch strike.
“I was impressed,” Redmond said. “Anytime you see a young pitcher give up a big hit, but you see him respond … he was going to make his pitches and he was going to get better.”
Added Fernandez: “[The Dodgers] have some tough hitters and they make adjustments fast. I had to make adjustments fast, too.”
Dietrich erased the 3-0 deficit with one fourth-inning swing off starter Matt Magill. He belted a twoout, full-count fastball over the right-field bleachers.