Jose Fernandez matched a career-high with 14 strikeouts as his Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 1-0 on Sunday.
Fernandez was brilliant for seven innings while throwing exactly 100 pitches. Fernandez not only struck out 14, but he walked none at the same time. The ace who unsuccessfully tried to lobby for another inning, gave up four hits while holding the Mets scoreless.
Fernandez is now 9-2 with a 2.29 E.R.A this year, and is leading Major League Baseball in strikeouts per nine innings. The right-hander had a 12.8 K/9 ratio coming into the game, and that will only improve after this effort.
Miami's lone run came in the fifth inning courtesy of J.T. Realmuto. With his battery mate dealing, Realmuto made sure Fernandez would qualify for the win with that run. Miami's catcher is hitting .301 this season while moving around to various spots in the lineup.
Mired in a prolonged slump, Giancarlo Stanton was given the day off. Ichiro Suzuki started in Stanton's place and went 1-4. The veteran outfielder has been asked to start on a semi-regular basis, and is hitting .313 on the season.
The Marlins only had five hits in the game, and nearly half of them were put in play by Derek Dietrich. The second baseman doubled for the 11th time this season and is hitting .310 this year.
The Marlins will be off on Monday before opening a series in Minnesota on Tuesday. Adam Conley will start the first game of the series.
