Freddie Freeman and the Atlanta Braves fell to the Marlins on Wednesday night at Turner Field.
ATLANTA – The Miami Marlins are now a season-high three games over .500 following an 8-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night. Mark Buehrle picked up his third win of the season for Miami while the struggles of Atlanta starter Mike Minor continued as he took the loss.
Atlanta got to Buehrle early; an groundout by Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the first scored Tyler Pastornicky to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. With a runner at third and just one out, Buehrle struck out Dan Uggla before getting Brian McCann to fly out to end the inning.
The score remained 1-0 until the fourth inning when Miami put up a three-spot. Austin Kearns doubled home two on a pitch he hammered into the left-center field gap. Kearns would come around to score on an Emilio Bonifacio RBI single.
The Braves came within inches of evening the game in the bottom half of the inning; with runners on second and third with two outs, Jason Heyward ripped one down the right field line for apparent extra bases. But Marlins’ right fielder Giancarlo Stanton laid out and while fully extended made a great diving catch to end the inning.
The Marlins would add three more runs in the fifth inning to take a commanding 6-1 lead. On a double-steal, Jose Reyes took home to put the Fish up three runs. Gaby Sanchez later added a RBI single and Bonifacio came through with his second RBI single of the night.
The Braves drew back to within two with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Stanton answered with a two-run home run in the next half inning to put Miami up 8-4. The long ball was the 8th on the season for Stanton which leads the Marlins.
It was not a save situation, but Heath Bell pitched a perfect ninth for Miami to send the Marlins home winners. With the win, Buehrle improved to 3-4 while Minor fell to 2-3 for Atlanta with the loss. The loss coupled with Washington’s win over Pittsburgh moves the Braves out of first place in the National League East. Atlanta (23-15) is now a half game behind the Nationals in the division. After an 8-14 start, Miami is now 20-17 and just three games back in the division. The teams will finish the two-game-set on Thursday. Ricky Nolasco will get the start for the Marlins while National League ERA leader, Brandon Beachy, will take the hill for the Braves.
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