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Jose Fernandez produces in unfamiliar role to secure Marlins victory


Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

We know Miami Marlins right-hander Jose Fernandez is a weapon on the hill. He’s recognized as one of baseball’s elite pitchers. He’s also pretty valuable with the bat, which he showed in Friday’s 7-5, 12-inning win against the Braves.

With manager Don Mattingly fresh out of position players, he called on Fernandez to bat with two men on base. His ace came through, ripping his fourth career double to score both runs and provide the difference in the outcome.

You go, Jose.

Jose Fernandez is mobbed at the dugout entrance after driving home the go-ahead runs in Friday's game against the Braves. (AP)
Jose Fernandez is mobbed at the dugout entrance after driving home the go-ahead runs in Friday’s game against the Braves. (AP)

It’s kind of funny how it worked out. It’s actually not uncommon for teams to send the following day’s starting pitcher home early when games go long. That’s especially true when it’s a day game that follows a night game, which was the case here. Oddly enough, neither team elected to do that, and the result was Fernandez, Miami’s scheduled starter on Saturday, and Casey Kelly, Atlanta’s presumed starter, battling about 18 hours early.

Fernandez will still make his start and will also look to continue raking. The Braves will now go with right-hander Lucas Harrell.

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Another interesting tidbit is that Miami had lost seven of nine games to the Braves this season. That has cost them in the standings, but a win like Friday’s may be exactly what they need to turn this series around.

TOP PERFORMERS

Brandon Nimmo: After coming through with a clutch hit in Thursday’s Mets win, rookie Brandon Nimmo played a big role again in their 10-2 thumping of the Cubs. Nimmo finished with a pair of hits out of the leadoff spot, including his first career home run. Nimmo smacked a three-run shot in the fourth inning an estimated 442 feet, which topped Yoenis Cespedes mega-blast one day earlier. The Mets weren’t exactly expecting the power, but they’ll take it.

Victor Martinez: The Detroit slugger hit not one, but two three-run homers in their 10-2 win against the Rays. Martinez went deep in the seventh inning against Danny Farquhar, scoring both Cameron Maybin and Miguel Cabrera. Then he did it again in the ninth against Enny Romero, again scoring Maybin and Cabrera. Martinez drove in six, while those three combined to score seven runs.

Bud Norris: Welcome to Los Angeles, Bud Norris. The Dodgers new right-hander was dominant in his debut, allowing just two hits in six scoreless innings in a 5-0 win against the Rockies. Norris tied a season high with eight strikeouts, and added to the crazy numbers the Dodgers are used to getting from the Clayton Kershaw spot in the rotation.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

A controversial bounce in the ninth inning would play a key role in the Red Sox 5-4 win against the Angels. As did this David Ortiz three-run home run, which gave him 2,000 hits with the Red Sox and 522 career home runs, moving him ahead of Hall of Famers Ted Williams, Willie McCovey and Frank Thomas for 19th on the all-time list.

THE REST OF THE SCOREBOARD

Indians 2, Blue Jays 1: Cleveland needed 19 wild innings to secure its franchise-record 14th consecutive victory.

Phillies 4, Royals 3: Kansas City’s road woes continue as they fall to 15-26 away from Kauffman Stadium.

Nationals 3, Reds 2: Washington walked it off in the 14th inning thanks to Ben Revere’s double. They’ve now won six in a row after losing seven straight.

Astros 5, White Sox 0: Houston broke the game open in the seventh on Carlos Gomez’s two-run homer. They’ve now won four straight and 11 of 12 overall.

Rangers 3, Twins 2: Texas keeps finding ways to win. Here, Ian Desmond provided the difference with a solo home run in the 10th inning.

Cardinals 7, Brewers 1: Left-hander Jaime Garcia allowed one run over eight innings as St. Louis cruised to a series-opening win.

Giants 6, Diamondbacks 4: San Francisco’s Johnny Cueto picked up his 12th win with seven innings of four-run ball. Conor Gillaspie finished a home run short of the cycle for the Giants.

Mariners 5, Orioles 2: Baltimore set a league record for home runs in June,but were outslugged here by Seattle. Seth Smith, Kyle Seager and Dae-Ho Lee all went yard.

Pirates 7, A’s 3: Pittsburgh scored seven unanswered runs against Sonny Gray after falling behind by three. Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer each drove in two.

Padres 7, Yankees 6: San Diego torched Nathan Eovaldi for six runs in 4 1/3 innings to knock the Yankees back under .500 at 39-40.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!