The Atlanta Braves won their second game in a row over the Miami Marlins on the backs of another dominant outing by their starting pitcher and a relentless offensive attack. The struggling bullpen tried to make it interesting late, but ultimately Atlanta secured the win.
The story of the night was the 15 year veteran Charlie Morton. Morton continued where he left off in his last start with seemingly improved velocity and an emphasis on throwing more curveballs. This lead to seven exceptional innings while giving up one run on 108 pitches. In the preview we discussed the importance of Charlie limiting the walks and hits and he apparently read the article. Only two walks and three hits made it a fairly smooth night for the Braves righty.
The Marlins were led by rookie Bryan Hoeing making the second major league start of his career. His early success in Triple-A didn't translate to Truist Park as he was unable to get through four innings while giving up four runs on six hits in just 65 pitches. This would be the second night in a row the Marlins bullpen was forced to cover at least half of the game.
The Braves kept their 2023 trend rolling by scoring in the first inning. Ronald Acuña roped a first pitch double off the right field wall and proceeded to steal third base quickly after. The Marlins made a curious choice to bring the infield in and Austin Riley made them pay with a line drive past the shallow playing shortstop. The score would hold at 1-0 until the third inning.
To lead off the third, Jazz Chisholm hit a high no doubter to right center field and ended up being one of the few hard hit balls by the Marlins all night. The tie game didn't last long as Vaughn Grissom laced a single to right field on a great piece of hitting to score Sean Murphy from third. The next batter was future MVP Sam Hilliard who also drove a single to the opposite field. This set the table for a double in the gap by Kevin Pillar and the lead was stretched to three.
The game stayed at 4-1 for a couple innings until right handed Ozzie Albies hit a curve ball over the left field fence to continue his inevitable good work from that side of the plate. A couple of innings later right handed Ozzie struck again with another homerun in nearly the exact same spot. This proceeded an Eddie Rosario opposite field homerun as Rosario continues to show signs of life.
Jesse Chavez came on in the ninth and tried to make it interesting including allowing an inside the park homerun to Yuli Gurriel. Kevin Pillar nearly made a top 10 play at the left field wall but it ricocheted and allowed Gurriel to score easily. The bullpen continued its struggles as of late but eventually the second win in a row was completed as Chavez struck out old friend Jorge Soler to end the game.