MIA 14, ATL 8; The Adam Duvall Revenge Tour

After years of dreading matchups against the Atlanta Braves and the notorious “Marlins killers” throughout their lineup, it seems the roles have been reversed in Miami’s favor. Adam Duvall made the Braves sorely regret letting him go this past offseason with his performance Tuesday night.

Duvall came into this series struggling to get his bat hot. The veteran outfielder went 3-for-23 with 1 RBI in his first seven games. But halfway through this four-game set, he is 5-for-8, including two home runs and seven runs batted in Tuesday. That RBI total ties a club record which has been matched six other times, most recently Sept. 18, 2020 by Brian Anderson against the Washington Nationals.

This was the first time Duvall had been back to Truist Park since the 2020 National League Wild Card Series.

Before the Marlins signed Duvall in February, he tormented them, most notably during Atlanta’s historic 29-9 victory over the Marlins, Duvall went 3-for-4 with 9 RBI and 3 home runs. But Tuesday night was the Marlins’ revenge tour, featuring Duvall as the headlining act.

The night in Atlanta did not start peachy for the Marlins, however. Starting pitcher Pablo López immediately ran into trouble to open the first inning. The first three balls put into contact left the bat at over 103 MPH. López gave up three runs on two home runs from Ozzie Albies and the slumping Marcell Ozuna before finally getting out of the inning.

Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images

Miami immediately got those runs back when Brian Anderson led off the second inning with his first home run of the season. After struggling on the mound, López hit a two-out double that left the bat at 107.9 MPH. Miguel Rojas hit a double to score him, and then Rojas scored a run of his own when Starling Marte reached base on an infield single.

The following inning, Duvall hit his first of two home runs to temporarily break the 3-3 tie. But the Braves got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. scored on a Travis d’Arnaud single to center field. Marte made a quality throw home that would have beat Acuña, but catcher Jorge Alfaro could not properly receive the one-hopper.

With two outs in the fourth inning Duvall hit a two-out, two-RBI double to give Miami a 6-4 lead. They would hold that lead the rest of the night. Nine of the club’s fourteen runs came with two outs.

Max Fried, the former NL Cy Young contender, was hammered (12 baserunners allowed), and even more concerning than his rough performance, the Braves are evaluating him for a possible hamstring injury. López wasn’t much better, exiting after only four innings and six runs.

The Marlins bullpen rose to the occasion, however. John Curtiss, Ross Detwiler, Anthony Bass, Zach Pop, and Richard Bleier combined for 4 ⅓ IP of shutout baseball. Paul Campbell pitched ⅔ of the ninth inning and allowed two runs. Although Campbell did not look very sharp, those were unearned runs aided by Duvall misreading a fly ball with the bases loaded that would have ended the game if played properly.

Nevertheless, the Marlins came away with a 14-8 victory, and guaranteed at least a series split with the Braves. The two will meet again Wednesday at 7:20 p.m. as Nick Neidert will take the mound against Charlie Morton.

Baseball Savant

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