For whatever reason the Braves always have a tendency to have a hard time when facing the Miami Marlins. The Marlins won the series, and the Braves barely avoided being swept.
Game One: Charlie Morton vs. Sandy Alcantara, Braves lost 4-3
The Braves started this game aggressively. In the top of the first inning, Ronald Acuña Jr. led off with a walk and then, following a review, he stole second base which got him into scoring position. Freeman advanced Acuña to third base on a ground out, and then my man Ozzie Albies had an RBI single to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.
Miami came right back in the bottom of the first and tied the game at one apiece on a sac fly by former Brave, Adam Duvall, which scored Starling Marte.
Ozzie and Acuña got it done for the Braves again in the top of the third. Acuña got on base with a double and then after Freeman flew out, Ozzie doubled Ronald home making it 2-1 Braves on top.
The fourth inning is where Charlie Morton got into some trouble. He started the inning with a one-pitch groundout of Duvall. After Morton got the first out, he walked Isan Diaz on four straight pitches and then hit the next batter. Free baserunners will more than likely always come back to haunt a pitcher, and sure enough, John Berti had an RBI single which tied the game at 2. After Morton got a strikeout of Alcantara for the second out, Marlins young stud, Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a two-RBI single that gave Miami the lead at 4-2.
The Braves came one run closer in the top of the seventh on an RBI double by Acuña Jr. that scored Ehire Adrianza to make it a 4-3 game, but the Braves couldn’t get anymore offense throughout the remainder of the game to tie or win.
Game Two: Max Fried vs. Zach Thompson, Braves lost 4-2
Out of all Max Fried’s stats, the one that surprises me the most is this: he has never won a game against the Miami Marlins. This season alone he has a 0-2 record against the Fish. In this game he went six innings, allowed five hits, three runs, two walks and he had four strikeouts. Overall Fried didn’t pitch terrible, he just didn’t have good execution of his pitches and left some over the plate which the Marlins took advantage of.
The Braves were scoreless until the top of the eighth inning. Adrianza struck out swinging to start the inning, Acuña followed him with a single, and then Freddie Freeman hit a two-run home run getting the Braves on the board and making it a 3-2 game.
However, the Marlins came right back and scored another run in the bottom of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Jesus Aguilar which scored Marte, extending Miami’s lead to 4-2, the final score of the game.
Game Three: Drew Smyly vs. Pablo López, Braves won 6-4
The Braves needed this win… and they got it!
Drew Smyly got the win for Atlanta. He went five innings, allowed six hits, two runs, one walk and he had six strikeouts. He got into a little but of trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning which accounts for the two runs he allowed, but other than that he pitched well.
The Braves started their scoring early. In the top of the first, Ronald Acuña Jr. started a game with a single, which was followed by a Freddie Freeman double. The Braves had runners on second and third with nobody out. Ozzie popped out, and then Abraham Almonte walked to load the bases with Braves. Austin Riley got the job done for Atlanta with a two-RBI double that gave the Braves an early lead of 2-0. The Braves scored another run in the first inning when Guillermo Heredia got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. After he got hit, Almonte scored extending Atlanta’s lead to 3-0 after one.
Austin Riley scored another run for the Braves when he hit a solo home run in the top of the third inning to extend Atlanta’s lead to 4-0. In the top of the fifth inning, Kevan Smith had an RBI single that scored Riley and once again extended the Braves lead to 5-0.
The Marlins scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 5-2 game. However, the Braves came back and scored one more run in the top of the sixth inning on a solo home run by Ender Inciarte to right field. Making it a 6-2 game with Atlanta in the lead.
Miami scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it 6-4, but it ultimately wasn’t enough. That led to a Braves win!
Braves Chop Chat 