Marlins ride huge 4th inning to victory over Braves

ATLANTA -- After failing to score with runners on in each of the first three innings Sunday afternoon, the Marlins erupted for six runs in the top of the fourth on their way to a 7-0 win over the Braves at Truist Park, earning a series split.

Emmanuel Rivera’s soft liner found grass in shallow left to start the fourth inning, and he advanced on Otto Lopez’s walk. When Cristian Pache pulled back a bunt attempt on the next pitch, Rivera and Lopez both stole without a throw. Pache’s liner up the middle -- his first hit as a Marlin -- scored Rivera for the game’s first run.

“It was a lot of -- I hate to say weak contact because I’d take a hit any day of the week when I was a player; I don’t care how hard it was,” said Marlins manager Skip Schumaker. “Things just went our way today.”

Running on a full count, Pache stole second while David Hensley struck out swinging. Atlanta drew in its infield with one out and runners on second and third, but second baseman Whit Merrifield’s throw home on Ali Sánchez’s grounder couldn’t nab Lopez, who slid hand-first across home plate to make it 2-0 Miami.

With runners at the corners, Xavier Edwards’ infield single over third baseman Austin Riley scored Pache as the Marlins' third run. That prompted the Braves to relieve starter Max Fried, the first time the All-Star failed to complete four innings since he went just two-thirds of a frame in his first appearance of 2024 on March 30 in Philadelphia.

“Just beating him is impressive,” Schumaker said. “To put out that effort, you would never know what our record is and what transpired a couple days ago.”

Reliever Luke Jackson struck out Jake Burger for the second out of the fourth, but Jonah Bride doubled the Marlins’ lead with a three-run homer tucked inside the left-field foul pole.

“I’m definitely trying to be aggressive up there,” said Bride. “Trying to get the ball in the air -- I’ve hit it on the ground a good bit this year as I’ve been up here -- but definitely trying to flip the switch and be more aggressive, find something to drive.”

The Marlins had at least one walk in each of the first five innings in a nine-hit, six-walk overall effort. While Miami exerted Atlanta's pitchers, Braves batters likewise battled against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera, who tossed five scoreless innings for his second win of 2024. Only three of Atlanta’s plate appearances against Cabrera took fewer than four pitches, with the right-hander using three pitches on Matt Olson’s strikeout in the first, Orlando Arcia’s groundout in the second and Riley’s double to the right-center-field wall in the third.

“Coming off a little bit of a knee issue after that Tampa start, for him to provide five innings -- because our bullpen was taxed -- so for him to do that and our offense to provide enough runs was exactly what we needed,” Schumaker said.

The Riley double appeared to score Jorge Soler, but a review determined the relay from Pache to Lopez to Sánchez nabbed Soler at home.

“It was a good job by Pache of getting the ball in,” Schumaker said. “Lopez one-hopped it to Ali, and … for Ali to hold on to that ball -- it’s tough to do that swipe tag when the guy’s coming in, with a catcher’s mitt. That was a huge momentum-swinging play.”

Cabrera otherwise spread two singles and two walks while striking out eight -- seven swinging.

“My mentality is to attack the zone, and today it was working,” Cabrera said through team translator Luis Dorante Jr. “All my pitches were working; they were all synchronized together in attacking the zone. Regarding the fastball, it’s something I’ve been working on in my bullpen sessions -- fastball and sinker. It’s a lot of work I’ve been doing, trying to bring that to every game.”

Cabrera noted he twisted his ankle on a landing, which caused discomfort but did not deter him. The offense’s sustained efforts kept him comfortable and confident, he said.

Emmanuel Ramirez pitched the sixth and seventh for Miami, allowing two singles and a walk. Jesus Tinoco threw a scoreless eighth, and George Soriano finished the shutout with a perfect ninth inning.

The shutout was the first the Braves suffered at home since Aug. 28, 2021 against the Giants. That 231-game streak was the third-longest such streak in the Modern Era (since 1901) after the Rockies’ 361-game streak from July 5, 1999 to Sept. 17, 2003 and the Yankees’ 233-game streak from July 8, 1930 to Aug. 2, 1933.

“When you’re staring down Soler and Riley and Olson -- and [Marcell] Ozuna feels like he’s getting a home run every time he faces us -- I don’t think any lead’s comfortable here, just because that team is so good,” Schumaker said. “… Cabrera was really good; Ramirez, Tinoco and Soriano, they were fantastic.”