Jose Fernandez to make Marlins return July 2 against Giants

Jose Fernandez will make his return with the Marlins on July 2, a home day game against the San Francisco Giants.

Fernandez announced the date during Monday night’s TV broadcast of the Marlins-Yankees game.

“It’s been a little while since I stepped on that mound,” said Fernandez, who underwent elbow ligament replacement surgery in May 2014. “I can’t wait. I just can’t wait to get on that mound and getting my pants dirty.”

Fernandez is scheduled to make a rehab start on Wednesday for Triple A New Orleans, and then make two more as he continues to build arm strength.

Once he returns, Fernandez doesn’t foresee the Marlins holding him to a strict pitch count. He is expected to throw 80 pitches on Wednesday and ramp up from there in his final rehab outings to a point where he’s at 90 to 100 pitches.

“I feel pretty much ready,” Fernandez said. “Arm strength, I feel ready. My stamina feels good. I feel ready. I feel like I can pitch.”

PRADO SIDELINED

Martin Prado will miss at least the next few games with a shoulder injury.

Prado on Monday received an injection to hasten the healing process of his sprained throwing shoulder, a procedure that will not allow him to perform any activity until Thursday.

There remains a possibility the Marlins could place him on the disabled list if the pain hasn’t subsided by then.

“As you would expect, there’s still soreness,” manager Dan Jennings said.

Derek Dietrich started at third base on Monday night.

Prado injured his shoulder when he tumbled and fell while crossing the first-base bag during Sunday’s game.

▪ Jennings described the Marlins-Yankees series as “kind of a reunion.”

“There’s a lot of ex-Marlins over there, with (manager Joe) Girardi and some of his staff we’ve got history with,” Jennings said.

Tuesday’s pitching matchup of David Phelps against Nathan Eovaldi involves two of the players in the December trade between the two teams. The Marlins obtained Phelps and Prado from the Yankees for Eovaldi, Garrett Jones and minor-league pitcher Domingo German.

“It’s just weird, in general,” Phelps said of facing the Yankees. “I don’t want to say I had a circle on my calendar. I have a lot of good memories of being a Yankee.”

After squaring off Monday and Tuesday in Miami, the same two teams will head up to New York for a two-game set at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday.

COMING UP

▪ Tuesday: Marlins RHP David Phelps (3-3, 4.11 ERA) vs. New York Yankees RHP Nathan Eovaldi (5-1, 4.13), 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park.

▪ Wednesday: Marlins RHP Jose Urena (1-2, 4.44) at Yankees RHP Michael Pineda (7-3, 3.74), 7:05 p.m., Yankee Stadium.

This story was originally published June 15, 2015 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Jose Fernandez to make Marlins return July 2 against Giants."