Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 14,669
Hero of the Game: Jose Fernandez (0.394 WPA)
Goat of the Game: Justin Ruggiano (-0.212 WPA)
Play of the Game: Marcell Ozuna singled to center field. Ed Lucas scored. Giancarlo Stanton advanced to third base. Ozuna advanced to second base.
The Miami Marlins had their best pitcher to face off against one of the worst the San Diego Padres. The result turned out to be elementary.
The Fish got a spectacular performance from Jose Fernandez, who dazzled the Miami crowd with another career performance. Fernandez struck out 10 batters in eight innings, including striking out the side in the second inning. Fernandez drew 13 whiffs on 100 pitches, which is simply a fantastic rate.
Eight of those 13 whiffs came on the fastball, which dominated Padres hitters all day. Fernandez was trying to match up with fellow fireballer Nathan Eovaldi, as the rookie averaged a shade under 96 mph per fastball, He also featured his Defector curveball, which was a strong offering tonight once again. Out of the 24 pitches thrown, 15 were strikes that were not put in play.
Fernandez earned all of the accolades tonight, but the Marlins' offense did its part. The Fish struggled to even get a hit against the erratic Jason Marquis, despite the fact that Marquis was pitching so poorly that the Marlins ended up with four walks and no hits by the end of the fourth inning. However, the Fish began the rally in the sixth, led by an error on Pedro Ciriaco and a Giancarlo Stanton walk. Marcell Ozuna singled home the team's first run, and Derek Dietrich was intentionally walked. After Adeiny Hechavarria failed to deliver with the bases loaded, Jeff Mathis (yes, that Jeff Mathis) did it again with the bases juiced, hitting a bases-clearing double to put the team comfortably ahead.
Fernandez was pulled in the ninth, but A.J. Ramos allowed two baserunners before Steve Cishek arrived for his easy 15th save. The Marlins win the four-game wraparound series and have now taken three series in a row.