Jose Fernandez goes 7 innings to help Marlins beat Reds 2

Leake improved to 5-1 in six career starts against the Marlins with an ERA of 1.33. He was enthusiastically supported by the crowd of 25,027, larger than normal for the attendance-challenged Marlins.

“He opened a country and western bar in Mobile about the time I turned 21”, Jennings said. “Sometimes I look in the stands and see the kids laughing and saying my name, and it’s really special”. Phelps fell to 4-5 while allowing only one run on five hits in his six innings.

White Sox 2, Blue Jays 0: Jeff Samardzija pitched a four-hitter, Melky Cabrera homered, and Chicago won for the seventh time in nine games.

“He was locked in, aggressive, confident”, Reds manager Bryan Price said.

Halfway through the best season of his five-year career, Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon was looking forward to his second consecutive All-Star Game this week in Cincinnati.

Fernandez, who threw 94 pitches, was still reaching 96 miles per hour in the seventh and mixed in lots of off-speed stuff. Carter Capps was brought into the game for the eight inning and retired all the batters he faced resulting in a hold.

A very instructive graph is one that details what each of kind of pitches appears to do when thrown towards home and there are no two pitches more different from the fastball and the slider/curveball.

“Their pitchers were getting base hits – that’s how confident they were by the time the smoke cleared”, Price said. “”(Catcher Tucker Barnhart) did a great job calling pitches keeping them off balance. “You have to be ready for anything”. Cincinnati almost scored in the first inning, but Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich threw out third baseman Todd Frazier at the plate. Bruce then struck out, and Byrd popped out.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Carlos Martinez made his case for inclusion on the National League All-Star team by pitching 7 1-3 scoreless innings, and the Cardinals beat the Pirates in a matchup between the teams with the best records in the major leagues. The offense consisted of five hits and five walks with Justin Bour rapping an RBI double while Dee Gordon went 2-3 with a pair of runs.

The Cardinals did their scoring in the fifth inning on two-run singles by Matt Carpenter – with one out – and Yadier Molina and out later. The 10 hits in the inning tied a club record.NOTES: Marlins 3B Martin Prado (shoulder) probably will return to the lineup on Sunday….

RHP David Phelps (4-4, 4.03), back in the Marlins’ rotation after a brief bullpen stint, is scheduled to start Friday against RHP Mike Leake (5-5, 4.39).