The Marlins scored in double digits last night so you knew this game was going to be tight. And it was...for seven innings. The Marlins broke it open in the eighth and assured themselves the series victory with the 6-2 win tonight.
Opening play of the game saw Miguel Rojas with a Hech-like stop and a strong throw to nail Nick Markakis at first base. Bottom of the first, Christian Yelich rolls one past Daniel Castro into centerfield for a basehit. After Martin Prado lined out, Justin Bour slugged a belt high fastball high into the right field bleachers, the ball hugging the foul pole for a two run shot, his 21st of the year, resulting in a 2-0 Marlins lead.
Markakis put the Braves on the board in the third, driving in Cameron Maybin to make it 2-1, still in the Marlins favor.
Julio Teherán lasted six innings giving up the two run shot to Bour, six hits, four walks and three strikeouts on the night. Justin Nicolino went an inning longer, giving up just the one run on two hits, walking three and striking out none. Nicolino was efficient this outing, not striking out many (any) per usual but getting Braves hitters out both on the ground and in the air.
The Braves did make some noise in their half of the eighth, loading the bases, but came out of it with nothing after Kyle Barraclough, Mike Dunn and Bryan Morris had their say, respectively.
Bottom of the eighth was when the Marlins hitters decided to open things up. Justin Bour lead off with a walk off of Brandon Cunniff and was replaced by pinch-runner Cole Gillespie. Marcell Ozuna then singled, sending Gillespie to second, and Ichiro sacrificed the two over. J.T. Realmuto was intentionally walked, and then Miguel Rojas was unintentionally walked, forcing in a run. Casey McGehee followed up by jumping on the first offering by Cunniff, plating Ozuna and Realmuto. Dee Gordon then finished up the scoring for the Fish by lifting a ball in the air and bringing in Rojas for the sacrifice. All told, four runs were in and the Marlins left the inning with a cushy 6-1 lead.
Jennings, who had AJ Ramos warming up when the lead was slimmer, sat him down and threw José Ureña out there hoping he could take care of business. Ureña walked Jace Peterson who then moved to second on an Andrelton Simmons infield hit up the third base line. Cameron Maybin singled up the middle bringing in Peterson to bring our score to 6-2 and you're probably thinking that Ureña is going to melt down, but instead he gets Michael Bourn to fly out and Markakis to ground out to end the game.
Final game of the series and last home game of the year tomorrow, Tom Koehler vs. Shelby Miller, 1:10 EST.
Source: FanGraphs
Attendance: 24,449
Hero of the Game: Justin Nicolino (+.338)
Goat of the Game: Adonis Garcia (-.253)
Play of the Game: Justin Bour two-run shot (+.198)