ATLANTA _ When the benches cleared and bullpens emptied at Turner Field on Wednesday, that's pretty much where it ended. None of the Marlins and none of the Braves threw a punch or so much as attempted a shove. The teams' skirmish or kerfuffle or brouhaha or whatever you want to call it _ fight would be a bit strong here, even by baseball standards _ was merely a bunch of grown men standing in increasingly close proximity to each other, with angry faces and mean eyes and maybe a couple of hand gestures.
Cooler heads prevailed, then the Marlins did. They beat the Braves, 7-5, to move within four games of the Mets for the last National League wild-card spot.
The seventh-inning get-together around home plate, however, might be what's best remembered, especially when the Braves visit Marlins Park for a four-game series next week.
Jose Fernandez earlier in the night hit Braves outfielder Nick Markakis on the hip, the latest in a series of Miami-Atlanta plunkings this season. When he stepped to the plate with one out in the seventh, Atlanta's Jose Ramirez threw a 95-mph first-pitch fastball so up and so in Fernandez ended up down and away, in the dirt on his butt.
Fernandez, emotional most of the night on the mound, was so again from the ground. He shouted at Ramirez, and soon about 75 bodies _ both clubs' expanded rosters, plus coaches and other staff and four umpires mixed in _ huddled around the plate. The Marlins quickly shifted Fernandez from the center to the outskirts. Manager Don Mattingly stood in the middle, helping keep the peace.
Ramirez got ejected. Fernandez remained and, up 1-0 against new reliever Brandon Cunniff, swung and missed thrice. The Atlanta crowd of 21,498 booed Fernandez before each pitch and cheered each time he failed to connect.
It all distracted from an otherwise successful game for Miami. Marcell Ozuna went 2 for 4 with four RBIs, three of them coming on a home run in the sixth.
By the time Ozuna's no-doubter landed _ a dozen and a half rows beyond the left-field wall _ he had only just started his journey around the bases, having walked a few steps to appreciate the ball's flight. He tossed his bat and moved in earnest toward first base, his gold chain bouncing.
Ozuna added a single in the eighth to score Martin Prado, who walked and stole second.
Dee Gordon had the Marlins' other standout offensive performance, going 2 for 5 with three stolen bases and two runs scored. He manufactured a run in the first inning when he blooped a single to left, swiped second, swiped third and scored on Prado's infield single.
On the mound, Fernandez allowed four runs in seven innings, striking out a season-low three. All of the runs scored in the second inning. Markakis got ahold of a low curveball for a two-run homer, and Julio Teheran bunted for a single when second baseman Gordon failed to cover first base. Teheran was the sixth consecutive batter to reach base in the frame.
Fernandez settled down afterward results-wise, allowing one hit and facing one over the minimum number of batters in his final five innings.
Wednesday was a big moment for Fernandez in the bigger picture, too. At 28 starts, he matches his career-high from his sparkling rookie season in 2013. And at 174 1/3 innings, he sets a new career-high, besting his '13 mark of 172 2/3. Fernandez will make three more starts this season if the Marlins stick with their rotation as it is now.
