Conley’s step forward turns page on Marlins’ tough day

Now that’s how you change a narrative. You show off another one of your gifted young pitchers. You watch that young pitcher flirt with history. And then you put a finishing touch on a game that will have fans debating how the thing went down at the end.

In this way, the Miami Marlins turned the page — at least for a day — on Thursday’s stunning news that All-Star second baseman Dee Gordon had been slapped with an 80-game suspension for performance enhancing substances.

The Marlins defeated the Brewers, 6-3, Friday night at Miller Park with a story line that included 25-year-old left-hander Adam Conley throwing 7 2/3 no-hit innings.

Hangover?

What hangover?

Marlins manager Don Mattingly used the word “resilient” over and over Friday afternoon when discussing his team. That’s the wonderful thing about having so many young guys. They’re fired up just to be in the big leagues. They’re resilient, too.

Onward.

This was a game the Marlins needed, and badly. They’d flown all night from Los Angeles, and it was easy to assume the bad news might linger.

And then something remarkable happened. Conley went out and pitched the best game of his young career, the kind the Marlins envision him having a lot in the years ahead.

In his 16th big league start, he showed off a fastball that touched 96 mph, a power slider and enough off-speed pitches to keep the Brewers off balance the entire evening. But he’d thrown 100 pitches only one other time in his Major League career and missed a chunk of the 2014 season with an injury.

While this was a game every young pitcher dreams of, Mattingly made the kind of decision that gutsy, smart and confident managers make. Moments after Conley had thrown his 116th pitch while allowing zero …

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