Ronald Acuña continues his hot bat against the Marlins but the Atlanta Braves couldn’t put together much offense in 3-1 loss
The Atlanta Braves came in Saturday after being shut out in a sad 1-0 loss to the Fish and looked to get back on track but once again were silenced by Marlins pitching.
Miami Marlins’ Wei-Yin Chen came into the game with a notable split to confront. Though he had a 4-9 W-L record and a 9.35 ERA on the road, he had a dominating 2.05 home ERA. So basically, the Braves had a tough task to try to start a new winning streak.
Ronald Acuña Jr. once again was owning the Marlins. No home runs this time, but he hit a lead-off single to start the game, then doubled to deep center his next time up and added a walk later. This game adds to his extra base hit games against the Marlins which now sits at nine consecutive games.
Acuña has an extra base hit in eight consecutive games (with an at-bat) against Marlins.
— Gabe Burns (@GabeBurnsAJC) August 25, 2018
Altogether the Braves did get nine total hits however, they failed to move any runners past 2nd base, even with lead-off hits.
With the Phillies and Nationals losing earlier, the Braves had a chance to push the gap even further between the rest of the division. Currently, they still have a three game lead over the Phillies.
In the 4th, Dansby Swanson broke out the tricks when he made an amazing throw to first, Derek Jeter-like as pointed out by some:
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1033511892520656897
The Arms
Chen absolutely kept the Braves in check over six innings. He allowed six hits but struck out 10 with only a couple walks. Plus, he didn’t allow any Braves to reach third.
Anibal Sanchez had a pretty good outing himself though he began to falter in the sixth, which lead to him being pulled from the game – though the Braves announced that Sanchez was actually pulled for right-hamstring tightness.
Aníbal Sánchez was removed from tonight’s game with right hamstring tightness.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 26, 2018
More from Tomahawk Take
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Prospect Review: Joey Terdoslavich
- Braves News: Braves sign Fuentes, Andruw’s HOF candidacy, more
- The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
- Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
- Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
Rafael Ortega led off that sixth inning with a liner past Freddie Freeman for a standing triple. J.T. Realmuto then hit a sac-fly to score Ortega, followed by a single from Derek Dietrich.
A walk to J.T. Riddle after Starlin Castro flied out was the end for Sanchez. Chad Sobotka came out and struck out Austin Dean to end the threat. Sanchez’s final line was four hits, two K’s and two walks over 5.2 innings.
Sobotka came back out for the 7th and gave up a hit to Miguel Rojas. Rojas moved over one via a sacrifice from Magneuris Sierra.
Brian Anderson then shot a home run to left center giving the Marlins a 3-0 lead.
In the 9th, the Braves managed to avoid another shut-out thanks to one massive home run by one Dansby Swanson. The rocket was recorded at 431 feet, just a foot shy of Acuña Jr.’s homer on Thursday and almost to the exact same spot.
This lone tally broke a string of 21 straight innings in which the Braves had failed to score.
The Braves will try to split the series with Kevin Gausman taking the mound against Pablo Lopez at 1:10 PM E.T.