On Sunday against the Mets, Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez worked his magic, striking out 14 over seven scoreless innings, helping his team eke out a 1-0 victory. Fernandez has won each of his last eight starts, four of which have featured double-digit strikeout totals.
The Marlins’ lone run came in the fifth inning on a J.T. Realmuto RBI single off of Matt Harvey.
Fernandez, on the season, has a 9-2 record with a 2.29 ERA and a 110/25 K/BB ratio over 74 2/3 innings. The right-hander missed a large portion of both the 2014 and ’15 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, so the Marlins are expected to keep a close eye on his innings this season. Fernandez has yet to work into the eighth inning this season.
Harvey may be a good cautionary tale for the Marlins. Harvey also underwent Tommy John surgery and he and agent Scott Boras tried to have the Mets limit his innings. After receiving lots of criticism from the media and fans, however, Harvey relented. He threw 189 1/3 innings in the regular season last year and an additional 26 2/3 in the playoffs. Harvey has seen his velocity decline by about 2 MPH on all of his pitches so far this season, according to FanGraphs.