Aledmys Diaz homered, doubled and drove in three runs against childhood pal Jose Fernandez, helping visiting St. Louis beat Miami.
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Dee Gordon collected his first two hits, a pair of singles, since returning from his 80-game suspension.
Ichiro Suzuki received a standing ovation stepping to the plate as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning Thursday, and when he doubled, the cheering became louder.
St. Louis right-hander Mike Leake (8-8) picked up the win, allowing six runs in five innings.
Cardinals closer Seung Hwan Oh threw a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save.
“I made some mistakes, and they took advantage”, said Fernandez, who lasted just five innings and allowed six hits, two walks and five runs while striking out nine.
Most days when Marlins ace Jose Fernandez gets the ball in Little Havana, he’s the unquestioned star of the game, his typical statistical excellence especially so at Marlins Park.
Fernandez, a two-time All-Star at age 23, fell to 12-5 on the year and lost just the second time in his career at home. He needs two more hits to reach 3,000.
After giving up the homer, Urena hit two of the next four batters with pitches, including Pham, who got plunked on the right wrist.
Diaz and Fernandez, born two years apart in the city of Santa Clara, played for the same youth baseball team in Cuba, Diaz’s father and uncle encouraging Fernandez’s mother to bring him to the ballfield as a youngster.
Miami was trailing 5-0 when the sixth inning started and scored four runs over the next two frames. “I think he’s comfortable with the way we’re playing it”. Perez, who started at shortstop for benched Jonathan Villar, crushed Robbie Ray’s first pitch 458 feet off the face of the scoreboard in deep center for the two-run home run in the third.
Martin Prado sparked a five-run outburst for the Marlins in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run homer to left field.
“The hitting is so complicated because sometimes you think you need to swing harder to be able to drive the ball, but it’s all mechanical”.
Along with Diaz, Matt Holiday also hit a home run off Fernandez. C J.T. Realmuto hit a one-out single and PH Ichiro Suzuki followed with a double.
“We all know Ichiro is definitely someone who can hit, but you know he has a pretty good arm, too, and I knew it was going to be tough”, Wong said. The Marlins only eight hits all game. It was Prado’s fifth homer of the season and his second in two games.
Marlins: RHP Colin Rea (5-5, 4.98) will make his Miami debut on Saturday.
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Cardinals RHP Mike Leake (7-8, 4.24), who is scheduled to start Friday, is 3-0 with an 0.44 ERA in three starts at Marlins Park.
