Jose Fernandez denied 9th straight win as Marlins fall to Diamondbacks
PHOENIX (AP) -- The crowd at Chase Field could see how dominant Jose Fernandez was. So could the players in both dugouts.
The Miami ace retired the first 17 batters he faced.
He seemed to have the kind of stuff Saturday night that pitchers have when they throw a no-hitter, maybe even a perfect game.
"I was thinking about it," Fernandez said. "Everybody was thinking about it."
Then, unexpectedly, Arizona's bats came alive.
Michael Bourn homered for the first time in two seasons to start a four-run sixth inning and the Diamondbacks ended Fernandez's streak of eight consecutive victories by beating the Marlins 5-3.
Bourn hadn't homered since July 14, 2014.
"He picked a real good time to do it," Arizona manager Chip Hale said, "against a real good pitcher who had really, really good stuff tonight. It was amazing. Guys just had good at-bat after good at-bat."
Fernandez (9-3) gave up five straight hits and lost for the first time since April 23. The four runs were the most Fernandez has allowed in a game since that loss, a 7-2 defeat at San Francisco.
"Me and Goldy (Paul Goldschmidt) were talking after that inning," Arizona's Jake Lamb said. "It's probably the best half-inning we've had all year."
Fernandez struck out eight with no walks.
"My fastball location was great. I was very happy, very happy with that," he said. "Very happy with the pitch locations. I am very happy about my personal outing, but the team lost so that throws everything away."
Zack Godley (1-0), called up from Triple-A Reno to make the start, gave up two runs on four hits in six innings, with two strikeouts and three walks. Brad Ziegler escaped a ninth-inning jam for his 40th save in a row, 12 of them this year.
Adeiny Hechavarria and Marcell Ozuna homered for the Marlins. Martin Prado had four hits, including a triple.
David Peralta had an RBI triple, Lamb a run-scoring double against Fernandez and Goldschmidt an RBI single off Fernandez.
"Five hits in a row, to get four runs when we easily could have laid down and just took it," Goldschmidt said, "as `Hey, he's got his stuff. What can we do?'"
Chris Herrmann homered off Miami reliever Mike Dunn.
In the last week, Arizona has beaten two of the National League's best pitchers -- Fernandez and the Chicago Cubs' Jake Arrieta.
Fernandez's winning streak tied the franchise record set by Chris Hammond in 1993.
He had not allowed more than one run in his previous six starts, and for 5 2/3 innings he was as dominant as he's been all season, mixing a fastball that reached 98 mph with a devastating curve.
But it ended with five straight two-out hits by the Diamondbacks in the sixth. Those five batters scored more runs (four) than Fernandez had allowed in the previous 41 innings combined.
Bourn started it when he hit Fernandez's 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence.
"It was a fastball. I think it was in," Bourn said. "I just tried to get the barrel to it, let his velocity take care of the rest. I was able to do that."
It was just the fourth home run Fernandez has allowed this season. Jean Segura followed with a single.
"It kind of just came apart there," Miami manager Don Mattingly said. "Usually Jose, nothing really bothers him, he continues on but it kind of got away from him there."
Segura scored when Lamb doubled to the right-field fence. Lamb scored on Goldschmidt's single, and Goldschmidt came home when Peralta tripled to deep left-center.
Miami scored in the first.
Derek Dietrich led off with a walk, took third on Prado's single and scored when Christian Yelich grounded out to the pitcher.
Miami made it 2-0 when J.T. Realmuto hit Godley's 1-0 pitch deep into the left-field seats for his third home run of the season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Diamondbacks: Placed INF/OF Chris Owings on 15-day DL, retroactive to Monday, with plantar fasciitis in left foot.
UP NEXT
Marlins: LHP Adam Conley (3-3, 3.76 ERA) looks to bounce back from a rough outing against Washington as the Marlins go for a three-game sweep in the desert.
Diamondbacks: LHP Robbie Ray (2-5, 5.14 ERA), 0-3 in his last five starts, takes the mound to try to salvage one game of the three-game series.
