It's a miracle.
Or at least after the way things have been going for the Marlins lately, it feels like a miracle.
After the Fish dropped three in a row and seven of ten, they held on Sunday evening in Atlanta to avoid the sweep and to restore our faith in the fact that yes, it is still possible for our team to win a ball game.
Ricky Nolasco struck out eleven Braves through seven innings, and allowed just two runs on six hits. Meanwhile, Dan Uggla single-batedly provided all the necessary offense.
The Marlins jumped to an early lead off of Tim Hudson in the first inning when Danny hit a two-run single to score Chris Coghlan and Hanley Ramirez, who had singled as well.
In the bottom of the first, the Braves got a run back when they loaded up the bases on two singles and a walk with nobody out. Nolasco miraculously limited the damage to just one run. He struck out Brian McCann for the first out of the inning, and Eric Hinske lifted a sac fly to right that scored a run before Melky Cabrera grounded out to end the inning.
The Fish added a run in the top of the fourth, again courtesy of Dan Uggla's bat. Uggs hit a solo shot to give the Marlins a 3-1 lead.
The Braves would get that run back in the bottom of the sixth when Brian McCann hit a solo shot of his own to bring Atlanta within a run of the Marlins.
When Ricky's afternoon on the mound came to an end after the seventh, all of South Florida held its breath as the Marlins bullpen took over with a mere one-run lead to work with. But Clay Hensley, Taylor Tankersley and Tim Wood tossed 1/3 of a scoreless inning each to hold the score before handing the ball over to Leo Nunez.
Much to the delight and relief of Fish fans, Leo, fresh off of two blown saves in a row, hopped right back on the proverbial horse. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out two, to preserve the win for Nolasco.
Hallelujah.