Fernandez A Bright Spot In Dismal Marlins Season
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MIAMI (AP) -- Jose Fernandez continues to be one of the few bright spots in Miami's dismal season.
He's been quite strong against the Atlanta Braves during his young career.
Looking to remain undefeated on the season, the right-hander tries to continue that success against the Braves andhelp
the visiting Marlins avoid a fifth consecutive defeat Friday night.
Fernandez (4-0, 2.13 ERA) allowed four hits and struck out 10 while walking two over six scoreless innings of a 5-2 victory over San Diego on Sunday. Though he did not factor in the decision, the 23-year-old lowered his ERA to 1.14 while going 15-0 in 24 starts at Marlins Park.
"You just try to make a good pitch, and get people out," Fernandez told MLB's official website after throwing 112 pitches, the second-highest total of his career.
Fernandez is 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA while making two of his six starts since returning from Tommy John surgery July 2 on theroad.
He's gone 3-1 with an 0.93 ERA in four starts against the Braves, and yielded five hits while striking out 22 and walking two over 16 scoreless innings to win both 2014 matchups.
Fernandez will look to continue that dominance and provide something positive after Miami starters posted an 11.05 ERA and failed to complete five innings during the current four-game skid. Jose Urena was tagged for five runs before leaving with a bruised knee after two innings Thursday as the Marlins (43-66) fell for the 15th time in the last 20 games, 9-8.
Christian Yelich recorded three hits and ex-Brave Martin Prado had three RBIs, but Miami fell to 2-8 against Atlanta this season.
Rookie Daniel Castro had three hits and Nick Markakis drove in three runs for the Braves, who blew a pair of three-run leads Thursday before Eury Perez delivered a tiebreaking single in the eighth.
Markakis is batting .333 with seven RBIs during a 13-game hitting streak.
"We need more people like this or these type of guys," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He doesn't flinch one bit as far as record or anything like that."
Teammate A.J. Pierzynski is batting .442 during his 11-game hitting streak.
Julio Teheran (7-6, 4.59) is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA in four home starts against the Marlins, and also 1-0 with a 1.54 ERA in two matchups this season - both at Miami.
The right-hander has lasted at least seven innings in seven of his last 11 starts, including Sunday when he yielded two runs and struck out seven without a walk during a 6-2 win at Philadelphia.
"I was aggressive the whole time and I was pitching inside a little more," Teheran said. "That is something I haven't been doing a lot. But every time I do it, it's a different game."
Against Teheran, Prado is batting .385, Dee Gordon .357 and Yelich .300.
It's uncertain when Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons will return to the lineup after missing a fifth straight contest with a thumb injury.
"It is feeling better. It's definitely improving, thank God," said Simmons, who is 2 for 20 in his last six games. "There's no setbacks. Everything's going good, it's just a matter of convincing them to let me go the extra mile and start hitting and get in the game."
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