Cashner pitches well but Marlins lose to Royals 1-0

It was his ninth straight start of yielding three earned runs or fewer. Nova tossed a complete game, allowing just one run, six hits and one walk while striking out six.

“It was one of those games tonight where you didn’t feel it was going to take too much”, Miami manager Don Mattingly said.

“Tonight was worse than it has been, but I found a way to get it done”, he said. The Marlins went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

With three shutout innings, the Royals’ bullpen established a club record for consecutive scoreless frames at 32. Royals RHP Dillon Gee, who starts on Wednesday against Miami, is coming off his best start of the year, allowing just one run in seven innings.

Morales, who leads the Royals with 20 homers and is second in RBIs (57), has hit safely in six straight games. The Royals have never played a game inside the confines of this park before, so they’ll take the field in Miami for the first time in years on their hottest streak in two seasons.

“We have to make sure we mix and match”, Royals manager Ned Yost said of his bullpen. “Our guy was throwing the ball good, their guy was throwing it good”. Kelvin Herrera pitched a flawless ninth for his eighth save.

Ozuna hit a leadoff double in the sixth but got no farther than third as Ventura set down the final three batters he faced. If the Marlins make the playoffs, starting second baseman Dee Gordon, who sat out 80 games this year due to an Major League Baseball suspension for performance-enhancing drugs, will be ineligible for postseason play. Mattingly said he didn’t know whether Ozuna would be available Wednesday.

It was cool for American Heritage-Plantation product Eric Hosmer to play before family and friends in South Florida for the first time in the big leagues.

Yankees 5, Mariners 1: Jacoby Ellsbury hit a two-run homer to back CC Sabathia in New York’s win.

Marcell Ozuna, who doubled to lead off the sixth but was left stranded at third, left the game in the seventh due to what the Marlins announced was a family emergency. Gee has fared well versus the Marlins dating back to his days with the New York Mets, posting a 3-1 mark in eight career encounters.Fernandez fell to 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his last four outings on Thursday after allowing five runs on seven hits in a season-low four innings of a 5-4 setback at Cincinnati. Miami is also 0-4 in Fernandez’s last four starts, and 21-8 in Fernandez’s last 29 starts versus a team with a winning record.