The Miami Marlins’ first ever four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers was quickly overshadowed with Major League Baseball’s announcement Dee Gordon was suspended 80 games for performance-enhancing drugs.
Entering Thursday’s matchup, the Marlins had already won their first series at Dodger Stadium since 2010. What’s more, countrymen Kenta Maeda and Ichiro Suzuki were set to square off for the first time.
Maeda wound up getting the better of his childhood hero on the night. Ichiro struck out swinging in his first at-bat and finished the night 0-for-4, with three at-bats coming against Maeda.
However, the Marlins rallied for three runs in the seventh inning to take a lead they never relinquished. Jose Fernandez allowed two runs in the first inning, but blanked the Dodgers over his next five frames of work and collected eight strikeouts.
He worked his way out of trouble on multiple occasions, despite facing the Dodgers’ heart of the order.
While Fernandez managed to find his footing on the mound, he was baffled by a Maeda pitch during a fifth inning at-bat. Fernandez wound up grounding out and upon returning to the dugout, still was impressed by the movement of Maeda’s pitch:
