The Braves took the field Saturday looking to continue their recent success against the lowly Marlins, with Charlie Morton on the mound.
The game began inauspiciously for Morton and Atlanta, with three Miami hits with an xBA of under .430, including a bunt single. A pop up and a sac fly later, and there was a Marlin on first with Miami up 2-0 and two outs. Fortunately, a Lewis Diaz strikeout ended the frame there. On the offensive side, Ozzie led off the bottom of the first with a single on the first pitch. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to bring a run home. Eddy Alvarez crushed his first career home run in the second to extend the Miami lead to 3-0.
Singles from Duvall and d’Arnaud started off the bottom of the second well for the Braves. Once again, however, the Braves were unable to bring a run home. After a few quiet innings from both teams, with a few hits scattered here and there, the Braves finally broke through in the fifth, starting with a double from Charlie Morton (!), who was brought home with two outs by Jorge Soler, after Ozzie just missed a homer. The scoring didn’t stop there, as Freddie brought home Soler and Austin brought home Freddie to tie the ball game at three runs a piece.
The sixth inning was quite offensively, as was the top of the seventh, aided by an incredible double-play by Dansby and Freddie.
After review, @LieutenantDans7 just turned one of the best double plays you will ever see!#BuiltFordTough | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/ctcp3Gekfh
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 12, 2021
Richard Rodriguez came in for the eighth, and got to two outs before disastrously allowing back to back solo homers, giving Miami a 5-3 lead. Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson both reached with two outs in the eighth, but Joc was unable to bring them home, as he hit a deep fly not quite deep enough for the final out.
Edgar Santana came in for the ninth and allowed two singles before the Marlins successfully laid down a bunt to score the runner from third, making the score 6-3. Santana loaded the bases with two outs before ending the inning with no further damage. Ehire Adrianza led off the bottom ninth with a double. Freddie brought him home with a bloop single to bring Austin Riley to the plate as the tying run. Austin almost hit one out, but didn’t quite get a hold of it as the Braves lost to the Marlins.
Join us tomorrow for the rubber-match at 1:20 PM ET.