It was Ace vs. Ace in Miami on Saturday night as the San Diego Padres' Andrew Cashner traded strikeouts with the Miami Marlins' Cuban sensation Jose Fernandez for the first six innings. But timely hitting by Derek Dietrich, Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton proved to be the difference as the Marlins shut out the Padres 5-0.
Many predicted a grueling pitchers' duel between two of the National League's best starters, Andrew Cashner and Jose Fernandez, and the two big righties did not disappoint. The pair combined for 14 strikeouts and only 8 hits given up through 12 2/3 innings (6 innings for Cashner, 6 2/3 for Fernandez).
Giancarlo Stanton opened the scoring in the third inning with a 2-out single to left field that drove in Fernandez from second base. Derek Dietrich tacked on another run with a 2-out single in the 6th inning that plated the red hot Casey McGehee.
Fernandez's nasty curveball, nicknamed "the Defector" (or "the DefeKtor," to some) was rocking once again Saturday night as fans at Marlins Park have come to to expect. Fernandez actually improved his already microscopic home ERA to 1.14 as he improved his 2014 record to 2-0.
The Fish would add insurance runs in the 7th and 8th innings with a double by Stanton, a pinch hit sacrifice fly by Reed Johnson and a single by Yelich. The Marlins bullpen continued its stellar start to 2014 with 2 1/3 scoreless innings from A.J. Ramos, Mike Dunn and Carlos Marmol.
It's probably a bit early to be watching the standings (insiders will say to wait until at least April 15th), but the Marlins are all alone in first place in the NL East after their 5-1 start, meaning 161-1 is still in play.