The Miami Marlins had no trouble knocking around Bryce Elder in this one, as they were in complete control of this one for long stretches as they eventually cruised to a 5-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in order to even up the series at one win apiece.
Things remained scoreless until we started to approach the middle portion of the contest, which is when Miami started to do their damage against Elder. To Elder’s credit, he didn’t get burned by tossing a hanger out there, which I suppose is a positive! Instead, in what feels like a cruel twist of fate, he was getting knocked around for RBI hits off of pitches that were actually out of the zone. Dane Myers began the third inning for Miami with a leadoff walk and after he made it to second base on a productive out, he made it all the way home in order to score the first run of the game after Xavier Edwards went down and managed to ambush Elder by swinging and making contact with the sinker that was low and out of the zone. The ball got through Ozzie Albies at second base in order to plate the run and that was the beginning of a long night for Elder.
A leadoff single and a wild pitch helped give the Marlins a boost to start the fourth inning and Miami proceeded to make Elder pay for those missteps by smacking a pair of RBI knocks that left the Braves down 3-0 at that point. Jakob Marsee hit a hard-luck double that bounced off the chalk in left field in order to make it 2-0 and then Troy Johnston hit one that was high and outside of the zone and carried it into the outfield in order to give the Marlins their comfortable three run lead.
Bryce Elder then went out for the fifth inning and was an out away from getting out of it with just a walk to Kyle Stowers. That was until he left a pitch inside to Heriberto Hernandez that Miami’s DH on the night turned on and pulled it out for a two-run shot that made it 5-0 Miami. So for those of y’all who are keeping track at home, the Marlins essentially did all of their damage on pitches that were outside of the strike zone (or at least the strike zone according to MLB Gameday) and that’s how Bryce Elder was doomed to experience what is now the eighth time this season (out of 19 starts) that he’s given up at least four runs and the fifth time in that same span that he’s given up at least five runs. I’d chalk this one up more to bad luck than anything else but it’s still such a drag to watch Elder get knocked around on a consistent basis on a near-regular basis. He’s giving it all he’s got out there but it’s just a bummer to watch.
Anyways, while this was going on, Edward Cabrera was in cruise control tonight. He eventually pitched eight innings in this one while only giving up two hits and striking out a whopping 11 batters. Plain and simple, this was an absolutely dominant night for Cabrera as he largely kept Atlanta’s lineup completely silent in this one. The only thing that kept the Braves from getting shut out during one of their worst offensive performances of the season was Jurickson Profar taking advantage of a hanger and absolutely demolishing it. Once it landed ner the top of the Chop House, it was 5-1 and the Braves could at least take pride in avoiding having a ‘0’ in the run column for the night.
That was as good as it got for the Braves! Edward Cabrera eventually gave way to Calvin Faucher, who went out there to pick the bones and whatever was left of Atlanta’s lineup at this point. Drake Baldwin got on with a walk in the ninth inning and that was all they could do, as the Marlins completed a comprehensive win over the Braves off the strength of a fantastic night from Cabrera and a solid night at the plate from his lineup.
As far as the Braves goes, this feels like the once-a-series power outage that felt routine for a while now. Maybe we’ll see them fare a bit better during tomorrow’s doubleheader but for now, this was a truly dour night at the ballpark for Braves. If you want fireworks then you’re either still at the ballpark reading this or you can wait for it to happen at some point tomorrow because the Braves certainly didn’t deliver any firepower this evening.
