Atlanta Braves continue to slide as they fall 4-3 in Miami

The Atlanta Braves lose a tough series opener to the Miami Marlins 4-3 after a rough start from Charlie Morton.

The Atlanta Braves just cannot seem to put it all together. After getting to .500 yet again this season, they have lost three in a row with this loss to Miami.

The game started well with Ronald Acuña working a leadoff walk and stealing second base. He would be brought home by his best friend Ozzie Albies on a single to give the Braves the early 1-0 lead.

The Marlins would rebound in the bottom half by loading the bases. Old friend, Adam Duvall would hit a sacrifice fly to score Starling Marte to tie the game 1-1.

In the top of the 3rd inning, the Braves would respond with doubles by Acuña and Albies to take a 2-1 lead. Albies would reach third on a wild pitch, but Dansby Swanson would fly out to left to end the inning.

The bottom of the 4th is where things unraveled for Charlie Morton. He had looked solid in the previous two innings but struggled with command in the inning.

He walked Isan Díaz and hit Jorge Alfaro. Jon Berti would hit a single to bring home Diaz. A wild pitch would move Alfaro and Berti to second and third for Jazz Chisholm who brought both home on a single.

The Braves would get out of the 4th inning trailing 4-2. This would be the end of the night for Morton.

In the 7th, Ehire Adrianza reached on an infield single before being brought in by an Acuña double to get the Braves within one. Unfortunately for the Braves, that is where the score would remain as they would lose 4-3.

The Braves did make it interesting get two guys on in the 9th inning, but the rally would be ended when Austin Riley struck out to end the game.

Notes

Charlie Morton- 4 IP, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3K. It has been an up and down year for Morton and tonight he just never really had it.

The bullpen looked great tonight. Sean Newcomb, Shane Greene, Luke Jackson, and Tyler Matzek combined to throw four innings of scoreless baseball.

Fellow writer, Sam Peebles, summed it up on Twitter.

It would have been nice to have this performance out of the pen in Philly.

Albies has been scorching hot of late, in June he is hitting .410/.477/.641 with a .475 wOBA and 202 wRC+. He has not hit a home run this month, but he has seven doubles, five runs, twelve RBIs, and three stolen bases.

Albies and Acuña showed up in game one of the series. Now hopefully the rest of the lineup will join them for the final two games.

Take Two

29-32 is not where a lot of us thought the Braves would be at this point in the season. There are 101 games left, so they can still make a run, but it is no longer just an early season struggle at this point.

Thankfully, the Braves will send out their ace Max Fried on Saturday. The Braves really need Fried to be a stopper and give his offense a shot to win and get this team back on track.