Jose Fernandez made his final start of his rookie season and it turned into a wild one. He gave up a bomb to Evan Gattis in the sixth inning, and Gattis pimped it pretty hard, which rubbed Fernandez the wrong way. Chris Johnson followed with a flyout and started chirping at Fernandez for being upset. Fernandez fired back with a few shots of his own, including mocking Johnson’s middle name, which turned into a weird side argument.
Later, Fernandez stepped to the plate and crushed the first home run of his career. He admired it for a moment and gave a little spit in Johnson’s direction, which kicked off more tension. Brian McCann met him at home plate and called him out for doing the exact thing he was mad about. Fernandez admitted it and backed off. But that didn’t stop Johnson, who charged in, ready to throw hands. The benches cleared, and things got heated, but Fernandez was already backing out, smiling, and even gave a little goodbye salute to the crowd.
The Marlins had a ton of talent around that time, with guys like Stanton, Yelich, and Ozuna. But Fernandez stood out. That day showed both his fire and how young he still was.