The Braves got another strong outing from Julio Teheran, home runs from Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuña, Jr., and an 8-4 win over the Marlins on Friday. Evening the series with Miami while restoring faith in the starting rotation is certainly a welcome sight, especially given the horrors that befell the Braves a night ago. The bullpen created yet another adventurous ending for Atlanta, but nailed down the victory nonetheless.
The Braves were on the board before the small collection of Marlins fans in attendance could even reach their seats as Ozzie Albies, the second batter of the game, homered to left field to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead. That lead would hold until the fifth inning, when the Braves offense erupted against Caleb Smith.
Julio Teheran drove home the first run of the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly that pushed the Atlanta lead to 2-0, then Ronald Acuña, Jr. hammered a majestic home run into what was formerly the home of the rainbow sculpture in left-center field, giving the Braves a 4-0 advantage. Later in the inning, with two runners on, Adam Duvall picked up an infield hit that plated Ozzie Albies, which made the score 5-0. Charlie Culberson followed with another single, which scored Freddie Freeman to give Atlanta a 6-0 lead.
In the seventh inning, the Marlins pushed across their first run of the season against Julio Teheran in 25 innings as Starlin Castro homered to left-center field to bring the score to 6-1. Teheran would exit following the seventh, having allowed just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts. This extends an impressive run for Teheran both against the Marlins and overall, as he has been among the best pitchers in the National League over the past month.
In relief of Teheran, the Braves called upon newly-acquired Chris Martin to work the eighth inning. Martin retired two batters while allowing three runs, though the final run of the inning was plated on an RBI single given up by Shane Greene, who entered with runners on the corners and two outs. This was hardly an inspiring performance from the Braves relief corps, yet again.
The Braves got two runs back in the ninth inning as Ronald Acuña, Jr. blasted another two-run homer, this time to right field, to push the advantage to 8-4. Acuña now has five homers in four games and 32 on the season as he ascends closer to a 40-40 campaign.
Mark Melancon worked a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation to lock down an Atlanta victory, in spite of a leadoff single that conjured visions of recent Braves ninth innings. Melancon retired the next three batters he faced, with a ground out to shortstop Charlie Culberson ending the game. Atlanta will turn to Mike Soroka for the third game of the Marlins series on Saturday.