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Fernandez dominates
Jose Fernandez was absolutely electric coming off of his fourteen strikeout masterpiece against Atlanta the previous week. Fernandez went eight strong innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight. I was a little disappointed that Redmond didn't leave him in to finish the game off, after all Fernandez had a nine run lead and had thrown under 100 pitches. However, that's just being nitpicky as Carlos Marmol got a look in the ninth and smoothly brought the game to an end.
Every Jose Fernandez start now is becoming must-watch television. Fernandez is quickly taking his name out of the conversation as the best young pitcher in baseball and putting himself into the best pitcher in baseball discussion. Fernandez now leads all of Major League Baseball in strikeouts and multiple other pitching categories as well. I know this is ridiculous to think this far ahead, but if Fernandez finds a way to keep this up and win the N.L. Cy Young Award, he would become the first pitcher ever to follow a Rookie of the Year with a Cy Young. (I could be wrong on this, but I put all possible names in an excel and couldn't find any matches). Hopefully, Fernandez stays healthy and continues to make a name for himself regardless of the players behind him.
Saltalamacchia, Stanton lead lineup
Unlike the last time the Marlins faced Alex Wood, Miami drove Wood out of the game in five innings. Wood gave up 10 hits and seven earned runs. This showed great progress for the Marlins young hitters, especially considering that last time they only managed to score one run off of him in eight innings. Leading the attack was Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Giancarlo Stanton. Both of them went yard, Stanton hitting his eighth and Saltalamacchia his fifth. So far, Saltalamacchia has to have been everything the Marlins expected and then some. He finished the game with three hits.
Overall, this was a great day to be a Marlins fan. Fernandez outperformed a division rival once again, the Marlins lineup gave Fernandez more than enough run support, and the Marlins continue to inch back up to .500 at 12-14.