Johnson sharp, Barden has 2 RBIs in place of benched Ramirez, Marlins beat Arizona 8-0

Johnson sharp, Marlins win minus Ramirez

MIAMI — Brian Barden drove in two runs while replacing benched star Hanley Ramirez, helping ace Josh Johnson and the Florida Marlins beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-0 Tuesday.

Ramirez, a two-time All-Star shortstop and the reigning NL batting champion, sat a day after being pulled by manager Fredi Gonzalez for failing to hustle. Ramirez, who said he wasn’t loafing, sniped at his manager and teammates in pregame remarks.

Minus their highest-paid player, the Marlins did fine for a day. Johnson (4-1) pitched two-hit ball for seven innings, Cameron Maybin and Dan Uggla had back-to-back home runs and Barden neatly filled in.

Ramirez was yanked in the third Monday night, an inning after he accidentally kicked a ball and lightly jogged after it. Earlier in the game, he fouled a ball off his left shin and was examined by a trainer.

Before this game, Ramirez said of Gonzalez: “That’s OK. He doesn’t understand that. He never played in the big leagues.” Responded Gonzalez: “He’s right, but I know how to play the game.”

Ramirez also added, “We got a lot of people dogging it after ground balls.”

Ramirez was on the field for batting practice, but didn’t play. The verbal battle did not distract the Marlins, who won for the seventh time in the last nine games.

Johnson improved to 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA lifetime against Arizona. He struck out nine and walked two.

Billy Buckner (0-1) made his season debut after being called up from Triple-A Reno. The 26-year-old righty, who is not related to the former big leaguer of the same name, was effective early before running into trouble in the fourth.

Buckner hit Gaby Sanchez with a pitch and walked Brett Hayes with two outs to load the bases. Buckner then hit Barden with a pitch, too, giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead.

The Marlins added another run in the fifth on doubles by Uggla and Jorge Cantu off the left-field wall in nearly in the same location.

Barden hit an RBI single off recently acquired Saul Rivera in the sixth. Three batters later, Maybin launched a three-run homer to deep left-center field. Uggla followed with his 10th home run for a 7-0 lead.

Brian Sanches and Clay Hensley pitched the final two innings for the Marlins, who recorded their first shutout since April 18 when they blanked Philadelphia 2-0.

NOTES: Arizona 1B Adam LaRoche left the game in the bottom of the sixth for precautionary reasons. …. This was the second time this season the Marlins hit back-to-back home runs. Chris Coghlan and Sanchez accomplished the feat on May 14 against the New York Mets. … Arizona 3B Mark Reynolds is 1 for 9 with eight strikeouts in his career against Johnson.