In need of a win after a disappointing loss Friday and some crushing injury news about Chris Sale Saturday, the Braves were hoping Grant Holmes could help deliver a victory over the Marlins.
Things got off to a good start as a Ronald Acuna walk turned into the first run of the game in the top of the first, as Marcell Ozuna snuck a double down the right field line. Grant Holmes worked around a walk and a single to hold the 1-0 lead. The Braves’ offense only found a well-hit Michael Harris single in the second, as Eury Perez seemingly began to find his groove, but Grant Holmes impressively worked around men on 8ththe corners with no outs to maintain the one run lead with a strikeout and a lazy double-play. Things generally quieted down until the fifth inning, as both pitchers were largely effective.
Nick Allen reached on a soft one-out single after a really good AB in the fifth and Ronald brought him home with a well-hit line drive double.
Matt Olson followed Ronald by sneaking a would-be homer just outside the right field foul pole before grounding out. That ended Eury Perez’ evening on a mixed bag. Austin Riley brought Ronald around on a single, giving the Braves a comfortable but not commanding 3-0 lead. Ozuna landed a bloop single, but Baldwin grounded out to end the inning. Holmes got himself in some trouble with a single and two walks in the fifth, but two strikeouts got him out of the mess unscathed. Grant finished his outing with two outs and a walk in the sixth. 5.2 innings of scoreless ball is quite good for Holmes, although the five strikeouts and five walks could be improved in both regards. Enyel De Los Santos got the final out of the inning.
An Acuna single and an Olson walk produced a one-out threat for Atlanta in the seventh, but as has become common recently, the rest of the offense let them down and ended the inning scoreless. De Los Santos got the first two outs in the seventh before giving way to Dylan Lee, who got a flyout to end the inning. Singles from Baldwin and the pinch-hitting Eli White again put two on with one out before a Harris groundout brought Baldwin home. Lee worked a clean eighth and Ronald Acuna walked to lead off the ninth, pushing his OBP to a ludicrous .504 on the season. Ozuna walked with two outs and Baldwin put the game away with a 3-run homer, as he has seemingly been coming out of his slump this week, giving Atlanta a comfortable 7-0 lead.
Rafael Montero finished the game off in the ninth.That’s a big win to avoid disaster in Miami and it was nice to score some runs. Ronald Acuna continues to rake, while Drake Baldwin and Marcell Ozuna had nice evenings.
Join us again tomorrow at 1:40 PM ET, as the Braves look to snag another series win.
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