MIA 5, ATL 4; Bats come alive in the 9th to beat the Braves in series finale

ATLANTA—A pitching duel between Braxton Garrett and Kyle Wright was interrupted by Mother Nature after 3 innings. The Braves took firm control coming out of the 3-hour rain delay by scoring 4 in the 5th. The Marlins took their time getting back in game mode, but when they did, it was spectacular. A 5-run, 9th-inning rally put them on top to beat the Braves, 5-4, and avoid a series sweep.

Before the delay

The Marlins had trouble moving runners over in the first three innings. The leadoff man reached in all three innings, but nobody came around to score.

Braxton Garrett looked great today, throwing 3 strong innings with 3 strikeouts before the delay. His slider was on point—all 3 strikeouts came on the slider. The outing lowered his ERA to 2.45, best among all Marlins starters this season.

Garrett’s final line: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 SO

For the Braves, Kyle Wright was also great today. He racked up 6 strikeouts in 3 innings. He did allow the leadoff man on every inning, but he was able to work through it with no real struggle.

Wright’s final line: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO

Another night with a tough 4-run inning on defense

After beating themselves last night in the 8th inning, the Marlins did the same thing today in the fourth.

Matt Barnes came after the rain delay and pitched a clean 4th and was sent back out for the 5th. He gave up a leadoff walk to Sean Murphy, followed by a spectacular bunt from Vaughn Grissom. A single from Eddie Rosario would load the bases for Kevin Pillar, who took 4 straight balls to walk in the first run of the game. Chadwick Tromp followed that up with a single to put the Braves up 2-0.

Then walked up Ronald Acuña Jr. He grounded up the middle and a diving Luis Arraez came up with the ball, but Garrett Hampson tried to barehand the flip and it slipped out of his hand making all runners safe and putting the Braves up 3-0.

Steven Okert came in to face Matt Olson with the bases still loaded and no outs. Olson grounded out to third but another run came across to make it 4-0 Braves. Okert finished the inning clean and sent it to the 5th.

Just an overall weird and tough inning for the Marlins. The Braves scored 4 runs, but only 2 balls even made it out of the infield and they were both singles. The Marlins also walked 2 and made a couple bobbles in the field which didn’t help.

The Comeback

The Marlins struggled on offense all day with runners in scoring position. In 6 of the first 8 innings, they had the leadoff man on and couldn’t score them. The Marlins also struck out 14 times today. But when it seemed like the game was over, the bats came alive against A.J. Minter.

The 9th inning started off with a single from Luis Arraez. Jean Segura followed him with a double. Then Yuli ripped a double over Ronald Acuña’s head but Segura waited to see if it would drop, so only one scored.

Avisail Garcia came up with two outs as the potential tying run. He ripped an RBI single to left to put the Marlins within 2 and bring Jazz up. Jazz kept the rally going with a RBI single to right to make it a 4-3 game with two outs.

Then Garrett Cooper stepped up with runners on first and third. The Braves brought in Jesse Chavez to face Coop. On the 1-0 pitch, Jazz stole second. Coop worked the count to 2-2 and when Chavez’s sinker missed up in the zone, he hit a hard line drive to right-center field that got by Acuña and scored the game-tying and the game-winning run.

Dylan Floro came in for the 9th to close the game and with two outs he struck out Ehire Adrianza to complete the comeback and the win.

After last night’s tough loss, the Marlins came back for what could be the game of the year from them. This was a huge win for the Marlins as they now go home.

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Up Next

The Marlins will come back home for a 6-game homestand. They will take on the Cubs for three games and then they get another crack at the Braves for three games.

The Marlins are 7-6 at home this year. First pitch for Friday against the Cubs is scheduled for 6:40 pm ET.