Atlanta Braves sweep doubleheader with Marlins as youth shines
Looking to keep hold of the first place spot in the National League East, the Braves looked to take advantage of a rebuilding Marlins team Monday.
The Atlanta Braves started a four-game set with the Miami Marlins Monday with a day-night doubleheader. This entire schedule with its compressed sequence of games always provides the opportunity for pitching disasters that could feed on the team for multiple days in a row, so truly nothing can be taken for granted along the way.
Nothing like that happened on Monday.
Game 1 – The Newest of the New
Touki Toussaint made his big league debut in the early game and overcame an early run allowed – with help from a red-hot offense – to pick up his first win in a 9-1 route of the fish.
Speaking of early runs, Ronald Acuña homered in his third consecutive game in the early contest with a leadoff blast to put the Braves up 1-0.
After a scoreless first, Toussaint gave up a run in the second inning when an Isaac Galloway double drove in Derek Dietrich. That would be all the scoring the Marlins would manage in the game.
Johan Camargo drove in Nick Markakis in the fourth to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead, followed by a Freddie Freeman sac fly in the fifth that brought home Acuna to put the Braves up 3-1.
Toussaint would be pinch hit for in the bottom of the sixth, after allowing only one run on two hits, walking two and striking out four batters.
Braves batters solidified Toussaint’s chances of his first big league win in the sixth, picking up five more runs off the bats of Charlie Culberson, Acuña and Ozzie Albies to go up 8-1.
For good measure, Ozzie Albies picked up another RBI in the eighth inning to put his team up 9-1, which would be the final.
Acuña finished game one having gone 2-for-3 with three runs and three RBI, also drawing a pair of walks. Albies and Camargo also had multi-hit games with two each.
It was an @MLB debut to remember for @Braves No. 7 prospect Touki Toussaint, who allowed just 1 run on 2 hits over 6 frames: https://t.co/Xynqgk2NQy pic.twitter.com/ziH6NgdiTX
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 13, 2018
From the pen, Jesse Biddle went a scoreless inning, despite losing the Riddle/Biddle matchup (JT Riddle drew a walk).
Rookie reliever Chad Sobotka not only threw two scoreless inning of his own, but recorded his first major league hit in the game (note that he’s only had 4 professional plate appearances!).
Game Two
The night cap got off to a familiar start for Atlanta with Acuna tagging a leadoff home run. He became the youngest player in the modern era to hit a homer in four straight games. He also became only the fourth player in MLB history to lead off both games of a doubleheader with a home run.
Atlanta would eventually pull off a 6-1 win and a sweep of the day’s doubleheader, but not without another masterful pitching performance and a ton more offense.
.@ronaldacunajr24 became the first player to hit a leadoff home run in both games of a doubleheader since 1999, when Brady Anderson did it for the Baltimore Orioles vs. the White Sox.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 14, 2018
Research courtesy of the @EliasSports. pic.twitter.com/xvji8xGBms
Mike Foltynewicz pitched game two for the Braves and didn’t give up a run to the Marlins until the sixth inning.
For the Braves, bats stayed hot in the second contest of the day. Following Acuna’s leadoff homer, another young gun drove in a run when Camargo brought home Albies with a line-drive single putting Atlanta up 2-0 early.
Freeman drove in Acuna in the fifth to make it 3-0 Atlanta before Starlin Castro finally put the Marlins on the board with an RBI double in the sixth.
⚡️⚡️⚡️ @Folty25 ⚡️⚡️⚡️ pic.twitter.com/MbBuZJ4aNA
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 14, 2018
Atlanta got that run back and then some in the bottom half of the sixth with Folty helped himself to an RBI single, scoring Camargo. Acuna drove home Dansby Swanson later in the inning to give the Braves a 5-1 lead.
Freddie Freeman hit a solo shot in the seventh for his 19th home run of the season to give Atlanta a 6-1 lead. His 14-game hitting streak was stopped in Game 1, but he started anew in the nightcap.
Foltynewicz would go eight innings with 113 pitches, giving up only a run on five hits. He struck out seven and walked three. Dan Winkler closed it out for Atlanta, pitching a scoreless, hitless ninth. He walked a batter, struck out a pair, and saved the bullpen.
Acuna finished Monday’s doubleheader with a total of five hits, five runs, five RBI and two home runs.
Next. More on Touki's great day. dark
The Marlins and Braves get back to action Tuesday in a scheduled 7:35 p.m. ET start from SunTrust Park in game three of four in the series, featuring Trevor Richards (3-7, 3.98) against Anibal Sanchez (6-3, 2.83).