MIAMI — Gio Gonzalez took the mound Monday filled with emotion while thinking of his extremely pregnant wife and his late friend Jose Fernandez.
Soon he was thinking about a no-hitter, too.
The Washington Nationals left-hander held the Miami Marlins hitless until the ninth inning, when Dee Gordon led off with a clean single , and Sean Doolittle got the final three outs for a 1-0 victory.
Gonzalez’s wife is back in Washington and expected to deliver their second child at any time. To compound his emotions, before the game he met Fernandez’s family , visiting Marlins Park for the first time since the late ace — an offseason fishing buddy of Gonzalez’s — died in a boat crash last September.
Monday would have been Fernandez’s 25th birthday.
“It was a heavy dose of a lot of emotion today,” said Gonzalez, a native of nearby Hialeah. “I tried to calm it down. I didn’t want to think about it too much.”
Gonzalez (9-5) succeeded, delivering one of the best performances of his 10-year career. He walked three, hit a batter, struck out five and retired 14 in a row during one stretch.
Gonzalez warmed up before the game using a ball bearing Fernandez’s number and initials. But once he took the mound, his emotions didn’t show.
“He was really focused and very calm — the best I’ve seen him,” manager Dusty Baker said.
But he tired in the ninth. Gordon singled by sending a soft liner the opposite way to left-center field on a 1-1 pitch, the 106th pitch Gonzalez threw.
The weary lefty’s attention immediately turned to Doolittle warming up.
“It was like, ‘All right, I’m exhausted, let’s go get the man and close this game out. I want to go home now,’” Gonzalez said. “If it would have happened, it would have been beautiful. It didn’t happen, but we got the win. That’s the most important thing.”
Mindful of Fernandez’s family, Gonzalez waved his glove toward the Marlins’ dugout as he walked off the mound, and he received a standing ovation from the crowd of 18,962.
Doolittle got NL home run leader Giancarlo Stanton to ground into a double play. After Christian Yelich beat out an infield single, Marcell Ozuna popped out, giving Doolittle his fourth save since being acquired from Oakland on July 16.
Gonzalez quickly heard from his wife.
“She texted me saying, ‘You almost put me in labor today,’” he said. He’s on standby to fly back to Washington and said he would have abandoned his no-hit bid if he had received word she was about to deliver.
The game was the Nationals’ first at Marlins Park since ace Max Scherzer took a no-hitter into the eighth but lost on June 21. There has been only one no-hitter in the majors this year — Miami’s Edinson Volquez threw it at Marlins Park against Arizona.
Jose Urena (9-5) matched zeros with Gonzalez until the sixth, when Bryce Harper’s RBI single put the Nationals ahead. Urena allowed just three hits in eight innings.
The closest Miami came to a hit before the ninth came when shortstop Wilmer Difo made a diving backhanded grab of Miguel Rojas’ soft line drive in the sixth.
Gonzalez made the Marlins look bad at times. To end the sixth he struck out Gordon, who badly missed a breaking pitch while throwing his bat at the ball. Gonzalez scooped up the bat with his glove and handed it back to Gordon as he walked to the dugout.
“I’m just happy he didn’t no-hit us,” Gordon said.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly wasn’t pleased with his team’s approach against Gonzalez.
“It was like we were afraid to get a strike on us,” Mattingly said. “Quite honestly I thought we did an awful job with him as far as making him pitch. I’m not going to take anything away from him, but we did a really bad job of making him actually throw enough strikes and fighting him off. Just too many easy outs.”
Around the league
YANKEES 7, TIGERS 3
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge broke out of a slump with his 34th home run, regaining sole possession of the major league lead, and Chase Headley sparked New York past Detroit.
Luis Severino beat Michael Fulmer in a matchup of young All-Stars on the mound, though neither was at his best. Hours after acquiring Sonny Gray from Oakland at the trade deadline, Headley put the AL East leaders ahead to stay with a two-run double in a four-run fourth inning.
Todd Frazier followed with a two-run single, and Judge hit a solo shot in the fifth. Headley finished with three hits as New York won for the ninth time in 11 games.
Severino (8-4) needed a career-high 116 pitches to get through five innings.
Aroldis Chapman entered with the bases loaded in the ninth and got two outs for his 13th save.
Fulmer (10-9) gave up seven runs and seven hits over six-plus innings.
ORIOLES 2, ROYALS 1
BALTIMORE — Craig Gentry singled home the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning, and Baltimore cooled off surging Kansas City.
Manny Machado had two hits and scored a run for the Orioles, who have won three straight.
Caleb Joseph got Baltimore going in the ninth with a one-out single off Joakim Soria (4-3). Ruben Tejada singled with two outs before Gentry hit a grounder up the middle that sent Joseph home from second base without a throw.
It was the second loss in 12 games for the Royals, who managed only five hits off three Baltimore pitchers.
Zach Britton (1-0) — the subject of many rumors before the non-waiver trade deadline ended on Monday afternoon — worked the ninth for the Orioles.
RED SOX 6, INDIANS 2
BOSTON — Doug Fister took a shutout into the eighth inning and rookie Rafael Devers went 4 for 4 with an RBI to lead Boston.
Mookie Betts stopped his mini-slump by driving in three runs with two singles, and Eduardo Nunez added three hits and two RBIs for the Red Sox, who won for the third time in nine games.
Bradley Zimmer hit a two-run homer for AL Central-leading Cleveland, which lost its second straight after a season-high nine-game winning streak.
Fister (1-5), claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels on June 23, was pulled after giving up Zimmer’s homer with two outs in the eighth. He allowed two runs and five hits, walking two and striking out five.
Brandon Workman got the final four outs.
Mike Clevinger (5-4) gave up five runs on seven hits in three innings.
PHILLIES 7, BRAVES 6
PHILADELPHIA — Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco hit homers, Nick Pivetta threw six sharp innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-6 on Monday afternoon to complete a four-game sweep.
Pivetta (4-6) gave up one run and three hits, striking out five.
Kurt Suzuki and Freddie Freeman went deep for Atlanta. Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz (9-6) allowed five runs and seven hits in four innings.
The Phillies have won five in a row and are 10-6 since the All-Star break, but still own the worst record (39-64) in the majors.
MARINERS 6, RANGERS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas — Robinson Cano had a two-run single in the ninth and Seattle won at Texas hours after the Rangers traded pitcher Yu Darvish.
The Mariners trailed 4-0 after two innings before getting even against Cole Hamels, the remaining ace for Texas now that Darvish is with the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
Cano lined a ball over the head of right fielder Shin-Soo Choo, getting two runs home before he was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. The hit came right after pitching coach Doug Brocail was ejected for arguing a balk called against Alex Claudio (2-1) that put runners at second and third.
David Phelps (1-1) struck out five in 1 2/3 innings before Edwin Diaz pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save.
Rougned Odor and Carlos Gomez homered for the Rangers, who had five hits in the first two innings against Felix Hernandez and then one the rest of the game. They struck out 13 times against four pitchers.
WHITE SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 6
CHICAGO — Matt Davidson singled in Leury Garcia with two outs in the ninth inning for his second game-ending hit in two days, and Chicago rallied to beat Toronto after losing top prospect Yoan Moncada to a right knee injury.
Adam Engel sparked the winning rally with a one-out single against Roberto Osuna (3-2). Garcia then was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second.
After Tyler Saladino struck out swinging, Jose Abreu tied it at 6 with a single to right. Davidson followed with another base hit, and then was mobbed by his teammates as he ran around the infield.
The White Sox trailed 6-1 before they scored four times in the eighth, capped by consecutive homers for Davidson and Yolmer Sanchez. Davidson also hit a game-ending, two-run homer in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Cleveland.
ASTROS 14, RAYS 7
HOUSTON — Jake Marisnick homered twice among his three hits and had a career-high five RBIs to help Houston coast past Tampa Bay.
The Rays cut the lead to one after a two-run homer by Corey Dickerson in the third inning before an RBI single by Tyler White made it 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
Marisnick’s first shot — a three-run homer which bounced off the wall above the seats in left field — came next to push the lead to 7-2.
Two pitches later Derek Fisher, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, connected off Alex Cobb (9-7) on a home run to right field to make it 8-2.
Houston starter Charlie Morton (9-4) allowed a season-low two hits with two runs in six innings for his fourth win in five starts.
Dickerson added a solo shot in the eighth for his seventh career multihomer game.
ATHLETICS 8, GIANTS 5
OAKLAND, Calif. — Marcus Semien hit a grand slam off reliever George Kontos in the sixth inning, and the Oakland Athletics held on to beat the San Francisco Giants 8-5 on Monday night, hours after trading ace Sonny Gray.
Jed Lowrie had three hits and an RBI, Ryon Healy added a two-run single and Matt Joyce reached base four times and scored twice for Oakland.
Bruce Maxwell drew a leadoff walk from Josh Osich (3-2) to begin the sixth. Pinch-hitter Rajai Davis followed with a one-out single before Osich walked Joyce to load the bases. Kontos replaced Osich to face Semien, who powered a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left-center for his second career grand slam.
Paul Blackburn (2-1), making the start after Gray was dealt to the New York Yankees, allowed five runs over five innings. Blake Treinen retired three batters for his first save in the AL this season.
Buster Posey and Brandon Belt had two hits apiece for the Giants.
