Maybe an unpopular opinion, but eight runs are better than zero.
The Braves are back in the win column, winning their 33rd game of the season in Ronald Acuña Jr.’s return to the lineup.
The Braves took advantage of command issues from Marlins starter Braxton Garrett, who loaded the bases with no outs to start the game. They’d only cash in two runs on an Ozzie Albies sac fly and a Michael Harris II two-out single.
However, Martín Pérez would give them those runs back plus one more in a rocky bottom of the first. Xavier Edwards tagged Pérez for a leadoff homer, Otto Lopez singled, Esteury Ruiz walked, and Kyle Stowers doubled to drive in two more and make it 3-2 Marlins.
Pérez walked the tightrope for the rest of his five innings of work. It was a mixed bag of an outing – he worked around traffic, made his pitches in big moments, and even racked up a career-high of ten strikeouts. But he would depart after the fifth inning with the Marlins leading 4-2. Not a quality start, but it could’ve been much worse / he did enough to keep the boys within striking distance.
Braxton Garrett settled down after a 30+ pitch first inning, but had a curiously short leash. He was relieved by Anthony Bender who worked a perfect fourth.
Bender would give up a leadoff double to Acuña Jr. and get Mauricio Dubon to fly out before they made the call to bring in the lefty Andrew Nardi to face Matt Olson. They regretted that immediately when Matt doubled to drive in Ronald, chipping away at the lead to make it 4-3 Marlins.
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A Money Mike home run to straightaway center tied the game 4-4 in the top of the sixth.
Didier Fuentes and Dylan Lee would combine to work a scoreless bottom of the sixth. Lee stayed in to pitch the seventh to face the top of the Marlins order. Consecutive singles from Lopez and Heriberto Hernández had Miami threatening, but Lee would strand both.
The tie would finally break in a very silly eighth inning. Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher came in and struck out Michael Harris II before issing a free pass to Mike Yastrzemski. Walt Weiss was hoping for a Big Dom Smith Moment, but he’d strike out in Sandy León spot to make it two outs. But the Braves weren’t dead yet. Faucher walked Ha-Seong Kim and Ronald to put a Brave on every base. This, as we know, is Mauricio Dubón’s favorite situation. He would reach on an infield single (featuring a very welcome lapse in Marlins defense), allowing Yaz to score and make it 5-4 Braves.
Matt followed up with a two-run single to make it 7-4. Ozzie’s hard-hit liner to his counterpart Edwards ended the top of the eighth. We’ll take a lucky inning any day.
Chadwick Tromp made his season debut, entering to catch and bat eighth after Dom Smith struck out for León. He’d work with Robert Suarez for a scoreless bottom of the eighth and record a single in his first at-bat in the top of the ninth. Welcome back, Trompy. Please stay healthy.
Ha-Seong Kim singled in Austin Riley for a little extra insurance to make it 8-4. And Raisel Iglesias did Iggy things to close the book on this one. Braves win and even up the series 1-1. Game 3 and 4 will start at 6:40 pm ET.
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