MIAMI
The duel had lasted five innings, the unlikely combatants exchanging zeroes on the Marlins Park scoreboard beyond center field. In one corner, Miami ace Jose Fernandez had set a season strikeout record and tamed the Royals with a series of timely escapes. In the other, Dillon Gee, the Royals’ fifth starter, had surrendered just one hit.
In the annals of pitching matchups, it was something akin to Ali vs. Chuck Wepner, with Gee holding his own through the middle of the bout. And then, it all began to unravel in the sixth.
Just six days after the finest performance of his season, Gee buckled in the bottom of the sixth, allowing three runs as a nine-game winning streak ended on a Wednesday night in south Florida.