Phillies Rough Up Jose Fernandez, Beat Marlins 6-3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Marlon Byrd drove in two runs and the Philadelphia Phillies knocked around Jose Fernandez in one of his worst major league starts, beating the Miami Marlins 6-3 Friday night to snap a four-game skid.
Phillies starter A.J. Burnett left in the fourth inning because of a sore groin, but Philadelphia chased Fernandez (2-1) with three runs in the fifth en route to its first home win of the season.
Fernandez, last season's NL Rookie of the Year, was tagged for eight hits and a career-worst six earned runs in four-plus innings. The right-hander walked four, matching a career high, and struck out six. He gave up only one run over 18 innings in three appearances against Philadelphia last season.
Derek Dietrich homered for the Marlins, who lost their fifth straight. Miami has been outscored 32-13 during the slide.
Byrd had two hits, including a double. Chase Ultey and Jimmy Rollins also had two hits for the Phillies, outscored 25-10 by Milwaukee this week in their first home series of the season. The Brewers won all three games for their first sweep in Philadelphia.
Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save in three chances.
Philadelphia quickly jumped on Fernandez, scoring two runs in the first thanks to Byrd's RBI double and Domonic Brown's RBI single. Byrd has six hits and seven RBIs in his last four games.
After the Marlins tied it at 2 in the second on Dietrich's drive to right-center, Philadelphia went ahead 3-2 in the third thanks to Fernandez's wildness. The Phillies loaded the bases with a pair of walks and Utley's single before Fernandez walked in the go-ahead run with a free pass to Ryan Howard.
Then, the hard-throwing righty returned to form by striking out the next three batters, featuring a fastball that reached 98 mph. He whiffed all three in the fourth for six straight strikeouts — all swinging.
Fernandez, however, was shaky in the fifth when Philadelphia opened the inning with four straight hits, the last of which was Byrd's RBI single that ended Fernandez's night. Kevin Slowey limited the Phillies to just one more run, charged to Fernandez, but the damage had been done.
Burnett was removed with one out in the fourth after walking Casey McGehee to load the bases on four pitches that weren't even close. Phillies trainer Scott Sheridan went to the mound with manager Ryne Sandberg to pull Burnett from the game. He had thrown 106 pitches.
Left-hander Jake Diekman (1-0) relieved Burnett and wiggled out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam by striking out Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Dietrich.
Jeff Baker's eighth-inning sacrifice fly pulled Miami to 6-3.
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