Marlins top Pirates as Fernandez outduels Cole
MIAMI (AP) – Jose Fernandez pitched seven scoreless innings to help the Miami Marlins beat Gerrit Cole and the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Christian Yelich had a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh, J.T. Realmuto had three hits for the Marlins, and A.J. Ramos pitched a shaky ninth for his 16th save.
Miami’s Ichiro Suzuki had two hits to tie Sam Crawford for 31st on MLB’s all-time hit list with 2,963.
Fernandez (8-2) struck out six and gave up three hits while throwing 62 of 88 pitches for strikes. He improved to 22-1 at home and lowered his season ERA to 2.53.
Cole (5-4) allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.
Ramos loaded the bases in the ninth with no outs. Gregory Polanco, who hit a grand slam in Monday’s 10-0 win, hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Ramos then struck out Jung Ho Kang and Starling Marte flied out to end the game with two runners on.
The Marlins broke a scoreless tie with three runs in the seventh inning. Suzuki and Realmuto singled with one out before Yelich’s base hit to right scored Suzuki.
A wild pitch by Cole allowed Realmuto to score and Justin Bour’s groundout extended the lead to 3-0.
Fernandez was in complete control allowing only one baserunner in scoring position.
Cole got out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the sixth when Chris Johnson lined out to second and Adeiny Hechavarria hit a soft fly ball to right field.