Koehler: 'A lot of hungry people' in Marlins' clubhouse

JUPITER, Fla. -- Setting a franchise ERA record last season certainly was nice, but Marlins right-hander Tom Koehler isn't putting much weight on one statistical category.

Bottom-line results is where he is focused.

To Koehler, there is no sugarcoating a 62-100 record.

"We don't want to go through what we did last year," Koehler said. "That wasn't fun for anybody, regardless of what franchise record we set for ERA, and how well we pitched. One-hundred losses are 100 losses. So we still get tagged with those. So we were still a pitching staff that lost 100 games. We need to do a better job as a staff of when we can put that hammer down, we need to do it."

As they have all spring, the Marlins' pitching was impressive yet again, logging a 1-0 shutout win over the Mets on Friday night.

Koehler set the tone with five innings, scattering three hits, while striking out five.

Koehler is pretty much cementing his place in the rotation as the No. 5 starter. In his four Grapefruit League outings, he's allowed one earned run in 12 innings (0.75 ERA), with 11 strikeouts.

In his last two starts, he's thrown nine shutout innings with nine strikeouts. Koehler's velocity maxed at 96 mph Friday, and he was able to get swing-and-miss strikeouts with his slider and curveball.

The strong pitching overall continues, and Koehler sees no reason it won't last.

"I think it's something that will carry over, because we have a lot of hungry people in here," the right-hander said.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia provided the lone run with a home run off Zack Wheeler in the second inning. Miami won a game where it got just three hits.

A big moment for Koehler came in the third inning. Saltalamacchia had just homered and the Mets immediately threatened with a walk to Danny Muno and a single by Ruben Tejada.

The potential for a big inning was there, but Koehler struck out Matt den Dekker and Chris Young.

"If we have shutdown innings this year, we're going to be in a much better position to win ballgames," Koehler said.