Blue Jays’ Fernandez Is Above .400 and Counting
Tony Fernandez’s season-long assault on American League pitching not only has him hitting over .400, he’s now on the verge of becoming the most prolific hitter in the history of the Dominican Republic.
Fernandez had two run-scoring singles to raise his major league-leading average to .409 and Roy Halladay gave up only two hits over 6 2/3 innings as Toronto defeated the Kansas City Royals, 7-0, Saturday.
Fernandez received a standing ovation from the 23,369 fans at SkyDome after his seventh-inning single gave him 2,177 career hits. That moved him into a tie with Julio Franco for the most hits by a Dominican-born player.
“I just feel really blessed considering all the great Dominican players that have played baseball,” said Fernandez, who mentioned Cesar Cedeno, George Bell and Franco.
“I never thought I would be the one with the most hits.”
Fernandez, who went two for four, has an AL-leading .465 average with runners in scoring position.
Shawn Green, struggling since coming back June 11 after missing two weeks because of a broken bone in his left wrist, had three runs batted in.
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