The Miami Marlins received a strong performance from Jose Fernandez in their 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees on Friday.
Fernandez was expected to go only three innings, but stayed in the game one extra frame. The ace ended up needing only 50 pitches in his four innings, and an astounding 41 of those went for strikes. Fernandez allowed one run on two hits with one of those being a home run. The right-hander walked none and finished the spring with a 4.42 E.R.A
After Fernandez was lifted, Miami turned to Craig Breslow who is expected to make the team. The lefty struck out one in a perfect innings of relief. Breslow entered camp as a non-roster invitee and ended up with a 2.45 E.R.A. Miami is likely to have two lefty relievers in its pen with Mike Dunn serving as the other option.
Next up out of the pen was Cody Ege who also had a solid spring. Ege gave Miami a scoreless inning of relief and has a 1.42 E.R.A in March. Ege is another lefty and it is unlikely he will be on the Opening Night roster, but he could see time later in the season. With his performance in the Grapefruit League, it is possible that Ege would be first in line if Breslow and Dunn need to be replaced.
Brad Hand and Bryan Morris combined for two scoreless innings of relief before A.J. Ramos came in to pitch the ninth. Looking for the save, Ramos served up a two-run home run to Lane Adams. The Yankees would hold that lead and hand Ramos a blown save and a loss.
The Marlins would get on the board and tie the game in the sixth inning when J.T. Realmuto singled home Giancarlo Stanton. The slugger had reached base on a single a few batters earlier.
Miami took the lead with a run in the eighth inning that looked like it could lead to a victory. That run crossed the plate courtesy of a Chris Johnson sacrifice fly. Johnson had entered the game as Miami's left-fielder as part of a double-switch.
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The Marlins have one game left in the spring and it will come on Saturday against these same Yankees. Miami is going to have its relievers handle the pitching work for the day.
