Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers suffered his first loss in Major League Baseball (MLB) in two months, as the Dodgers fell to the Miami Marlins 6-2 here on Monday.
At Marlins Park, Ryu gave up three runs on six hits and two walks in 7 1/3 innings to drop to 12-4 in his first big league season. The Dodgers lost consecutive games for the first time since June 20-21.
The South Korean left-hander struck out five, but his ERA rose from 2.91 to 2.95. His previous defeat had come against the New York Yankees on June 19, and he came to Miami having gone 5-0 with a 2.27 ERA in five starts since the All-Star break.
Ryu still leads all MLB rookies with 12 wins and 155 2/3 innings pitched. He has thrown at least five innings in each of his 24 starts.
Jose Fernandez, a hard-throwing rookie from Cuba, limited the Dodgers to two runs, one of them unearned, in six innings on four hits and three walks, to improve to 9-5. He struck out eight to raise his rookie-leading total to 157 in 145 2/3 innings.
The Marlins went up 2-0 in the bottom third thanks to three consecutive hits with two outs. After Fernandez hit a single, Christian Yelich drove him home with a double off the left field wall. Donovan Solano followed up with a run-scoring single to right.
In the top fifth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out after two singles and an error, but managed to score just once on a grounder by Carl Crawford. Yasiel Puig and Adrian Gonzalez struck out to end the rally.
The Dodgers pulled even at 2-2 in the top sixth, as Juan Uribe smoked a double to left field corner, scoring Andre Ethier from first.
The Marlins went ahead for good in the bottom sixth, however, as Logan Morrison hit a double to right to bring home Solano from second.
The Marlins added three more runs in the bottom eighth for good measure, with Giancarlo Stanton's towering solo shot and RBI singles by Ed Lucas and Adeiny Hechavarria.
The Dodgers remained in first place in National League (NL) West at 72-52. The Marlins still have the worst record in the NL after the victory at 48-75.
The Marlins entered the game ranked dead last in the NL in all major offensive categories, including runs scored, hits, home runs and batting average. (Yonhap News)