Cardinals hand Marlins' Fernandez rare home loss
MIAMI -- Aledmys Diaz homered, doubled and drove in three runs as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated Jose Fernandez and the Miami Marlins 5-4 on Thursday night at Marlins Park.
Fernandez (12-5), a two-time All-Star at age 23, lost his second career game at home. He is 26-2 with a 1.62 ERA at Marlins Park. Miami's loss spoiled the return of two-time All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon, who missed the previous 80 games after a suspension for performance-enhancing drugs. Gordon, who led the National League in batting average (.333) and steals (58) last season, went 0-for-4 with one strikeout.
One of the highlights for the Marlins came when pinch-hitter Ichiro Suzuki slapped a well-struck double to the right-field corner in the seventh inning. He needs two more hits to reach 3,000.
Diaz's two-run homer and Matt Holliday's solo blast one out later gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead in the third. It was the first time in Fernandez's career that he has allowed two homers in an inning.
Fernandez lasted five innings and allowed five runs, six hits and two walks, striking out nine. He has never allowed more than six runs in a start.
Michael Wacha (6-7) earned the win, allowing three runs and four hits while not walking a batter in six innings.
Fernandez, who entered Thursday having allowed only two homers at home all season, matched that in the third. Diaz, who was Fernandez's neighbor in Cuba, hit his homer to left-center. Holliday then hit an opposite-field field homer down the right-field line. Both homers barely cleared the wall.
St. Louis made it 5-0 in the fifth. Jeremy Hazelbaker hit a leadoff triple and scored on Diaz's double. A two-out single by Matt Adams scored Diaz.
Miami cut its deficit to 5-3 in the sixth. Adeiny Hechavaria singled and scored on Chris Johnson's double. Martin Prado's two-run homer capped the inning.
The Marlins scored once more in the seventh. J.T. Realmuto singled, advanced to third on Suzuki's double and scored on a one-out grounder by Hechavarria.
NOTES: Miami designated INF Don Kelly for assignment to make room on the active roster for 2B Dee Gordon, who returned after serving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Kelly was hitting .045 before Wednesday, when he had two triples among his three hits. ... Marlins 1B Justin Bour (ankle) begins a rehab assignment Friday at Triple-A New Orleans and is about a week away from rejoining the team. ... Cardinals RHP Mike Leake faces Marlins RHP Jose Urena on Friday. Leake has gone a career-high 25 consecutive innings without allowing a walk. He is also 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA against the Marlins. ... St. Louis starts LHP Jaime Garcia on three days' rest Saturday. Garcia threw 77 pitches Tuesday.