It’s usually a bad time for the Miami Marlins to run into the Atlanta Braves, based on how these two teams have fared against each other for nearly a decade-and-a-half now. It was an especially bad time for Miami this time around as the Braves came into this series looking hot and playing well.
As it turned out, nothing changed. The Braves were cooking against the Nationals and this week’s action saw yet another Fish Fry take place in Cobb County. Atlanta didn’t have too much trouble dealing with
the Nationals and they also did so with a couple of starting pitchers who apparently had something to prove following the trade deadline. How did it all end up going? Let’s get into the recap, shall we?
Tuesday, August 4
Braves 4, Marlins 2
Following his performance on Tuesday where he pitched six shutout innings, Grant Holmes expressed feelings of being motivated after there was such a loud and disappointed reaction to the Braves not adding a front-end starter to their rotation once the trade deadline came and went. If that’s true then hopefully we’ll continue to see him perform at or near a level like this because it was definitely impressive.
While Holmes was on the mound, he didn’t receive too much run support as the only help he had during his six innings was a dinger from Ozzie Albies in the second inning. Marlins starter did well to keep the Braves quiet and go stride-for-stride with Holmes while he was out there.
As a result, this came down to which team’s bullpen was better and which team could herd their nerve from a defensive standpoint. In both cases, the answer was “Atlanta” The seventh inning ended up being pivotal after Lane Thomas and his speed made an immediate impact by forcing a bad throw out of Otto Lopez. That brought Austin Riley to the plate, who proceeded to crush one into the seats in left-center for a two-run homer that gave the Braves some valuable breathing room at 3-0.
Atlanta actually went into the top of the ninth with a 4-0 lead but Raisel Iglesias had a wobble — one that usually comes after he has to deal with a leadoff baserunner. Iglesias conceded two runs but the Marlins needed more than that to keep the game going and so the Braves kept their winning streak going.
Wednesday, August 5
Braves 4, Marlins 1
Apparently Bryce Elder was also motivated by his GM’s vote of confidence in him because he took the baton from Grant Holmes in the night before and absolutely ran with it. Elder has actually been pretty solid since the All-Star break (1.88 ERA and 44 ERA- over 24 innings since July 20. 5.01 FIP, though) and this was the best start of the run. Elder pitched seven innings while only giving up one hit with two walks. He struck out three batters and only gave up one run. Impressively, it wasn’t on a hanger that got hit to the moon, either. This was a truly good start from Elder.
Anyways, the Marlins never looked much like scoring on this particular night while Braves were in complete control for nearly the duration of the contest. Austin Riley continued his nice series by delivering a ground-rule RBI double that put the Braves in front and then Drake Baldwin shot one up the middle later on in the frame to plate two runners and make it 3-0 in the second. Mauricio Dubón added on an RBI single of his own to make it 4-0 and Atlanta was cruising early on.
They kept on cruising for the rest of the night. The aforementioned run that I mentioned Elder conceding came on a productive out from Joe Mack in the fifth inning and that was as good as it got for Miami in this one. The Marlins only had three hits in this one and two of them came off of Dylan Dodd. Didier Fuentes ended up pulling off a four-out save in this one as the Braves clinched just about the most comfortable three-run victory you’ll see this season.
Thursday, August 6
Braves 11, Marlins 3
Whether Ronald Acuña Jr. retires as a Braves player or leaves town eventually, the Marlins are likely going to throw a party and have a parade for him as he’s on his way out. Acuña has tormented the Marlins on a near-regular basis over the course of his career and Thursday night delivered one of the wildest examples. Right before the tarp came out, Acuña hit a fly ball to left-center that could’ve ended up in either Heriberto Hernandez’s glove or Esteury Ruiz’s glove. Instead, the two Marlins outfielders collided and the ball bounced off of them and over the fence for a two-run dinger. Jose Canseco would’ve been proud.
Once the game resumed play, the Braves continued to cruise along until they put the pedal to the metal starting int he sixth inning. Atlanta plated four runs in the sixth and it started with a leadoff homer from Matt Olson to get things started. Lane Thomas continued to ingratiate himself with Braves Country after he plated Michael Harris II with a double and then following an Austin Riley sacrifice fly, Xavier Edwards made a three-course meal out of a routine ground ball in order to cap off the miserable inning for Miami.
Michael Harirs II tripled home Matt Olson in the seventh inning and then Money Mike was brought home with a single from Mauricio Dubón. The Braves then added three more in the bottom of the eighth, which included Acuña capping off a wacky night by just hitting a good ol’ fashioned normal homer for his second of the night. Javier Sanoja made an error and then had to pitch to finish off the inning and that probably summed up th level of frustration that Miami was feeling as they suffered yet another rough visit to Truist Park.
The Braves never trailed at any point during this series, mind you. Before any of y’all go “Oh, it’s the Marlins,” remember that not-too-long ago the Braves were busy getting stymied by the Juan Soto-less New York Mets. This is Major League Baseball and any team can beat anybody over the course of a three-game series and outside of Thursday’s beatdown, the Marlins weren’t too far off.
With that being said, the Braves haven’t had too much trouble with the Marlins so far this season — or any recent season, really. That’s now 12 straight seasons where the Braves have won the season series over the Marlins and there’s even a Postseason series involved in that as well. It’s good to know that in this rapidly-changing world, some things remain consistent.
Atlanta now heads to the Bronx on a heater. They’ve won eight straight games and they’re 15-5 since the All-Star break. It’s exactly the type of form that you want to be on at this point in the season, as the better you play in August makes things that easier once September rolls around. The Braves are playing themselves into a comfortable spot with September on the horizon and now they’ll have a major test against one of the top squads in the American League. Time to see what happens!
