Jose's worst start, missed chances cost Marlins

PHILADELPHIA -- Over the long haul, the extra day of rest may indeed benefit Jose Fernandez. It certainly didn't work in the 21-year-old's favor on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Fernandez ended up enduring his roughest big league start, giving up a personal-most six earned runs along with matching his career high with four walks. He did have a stretch of striking out six straight, but it wasn't nearly enough. Marlon Byrd had a double and drove in two runs off Fernandez, and the Phillies rolled past the Marlins, 6-3.

"He was kind of teetering on the edge the whole night," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "He battled and gave us everything he had tonight. He just couldn't get through it."

The Marlins have now lost five straight, including all four on the road trip, and they slipped under .500 (5-6) for the first time this season.

After being swept in three games at Washington, the Marlins liked their chances in the first of three at Philadelphia with their young ace on the mound.

"I don't think I was locating my pitches," Fernandez said. "This is the big leagues. If you don't locate, you're probably going to get hit. Nothing we can do about it now, but get ready for my next start.

"I was just trying to fight out there and give my team a chance to win. Obviously it didn't happen."

Before Friday, Fernandez had been so dominating for so long, you have to go a ways back to find a start where he struggled. He even started the season off in impressive fashion, winning two at home, and he carried an 0.71 ERA into Friday.

The strong first two home starts earned Fernandez Co-National League Player of the Week honors with Colorado's Charlie Blackmon last week.

Also, in three starts against the Phillies last year, Fernandez was 1-0 with an 0.50 ERA. The victory happened to be his first MLB win.

"This is why this game is amazing," Fernandez said. "You throw two good starts, and then you come up here and you get your [butt] kicked. It's just part of it. Hopefully bounce back in my next start. And hopefully we can win tomorrow."

Actually, in 31 big league starts, Fernandez is better when staying every fifth day. In 12 starts, he is 7-3 with a 1.71 ERA. Now, in 14 starts with that one extra day, he is 4-4 with a 3.29 ERA.

The extra day, Fernandez said, was not a factor.

"No, I was feeling really strong," Fernandez said. "I just didn't have it. But I was feeling strong."

The six earned runs topped the five he yielded last April 18. At Tampa Bay on May 27, 2013, Fernandez gave up seven runs, but four were earned. He's now walked four in a start three times.

Also tumbling on Friday night was Fernandez's streak of 13 consecutive starts of allowing two runs or fewer, which dated back to last July 7 at St. Louis.

The way he was knocked around reminded Fernandez of his loss at Cincinnati last April 18. After that game, he recalls being extremely upset.

With a year of experience, he plans on handling himself better now.

"It already happened to me," the right-hander said. "Now I know how to react to it. I'm not going crazy like last year."

Phillies right-hander A.J. Burnett was clinging to a 3-2 lead with one out in the fifth inning, but he wasn't able to complete the frame that would have qualified him for a win. Burnett was lifted due to groin soreness, and he was removed for precautionary reasons.

Burnett walked six and allowed five hits, yet the Marlins could only cash in on Derek Dietrich's two-run homer in the second inning, which at the time tied the score.

Philadelphia regained the lead, 3-2, in the third inning on a first by Fernandez. When Ryan Howard walked to drive in a run, it marked the first time the righty walked a batter with the bases loaded.

Fernandez struck out the side to escape any further damage in the inning, and then fanned three straight in the fourth. But he allowed four consecutive hits to begin the fifth inning, including Byrd's RBI single, before giving way to Kevin Slowey.

"He's aggressive. We tried to be aggressive. He's tough," Byrd said. "Gosh, 98 mph, that hard breaking ball, changeup at 90. We had to kind of look up in the zone and hopefully he'd leave something over the plate. We took some good swings tonight. Everything we've been working on finally came together."

The Marlins had several chances to pick Fernandez up, but they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners. Jeff Baker, who came in for Dietrich on a double-switch, hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

"We had some opportunities," Redmond said. "[Burnett] just seemed to be able to make that one pitch to keep us from having that really big inning. Sometimes in the end, that makes the difference."