Lopez struggles as Marlins drop G1 to Braves

ATLANTA -- Mired in one of their worst stretches of the season, the Marlins entered Game 1 of Monday's split doubleheader in position to help shake up the National League East standings. But rather than play spoiler, it was the Braves that handed rookie Pablo López one of his toughest outings.
Lopez was tagged for six runs (five earned) in 5 1/3 innings of the Marlins' 9-1 loss at SunTrust Park.
The Marlins have now lost 11 of 13, and they are 5-15 in their past 20 games. Monday's doubleheader was scheduled after an Aug. 1 rainout.

Facing the Braves, who are competing with the Phillies for first place in the NL East, is providing the Marlins an opportunity to evaluate their young players against playoff contenders.
"You can see they're competing, they're playing hard, trying to win games," Lopez said of the Braves. "That's when you can be on the mound and you can learn to slow the game down. Sometimes the pace of the game can speed up on you. You can try to slow things down and focus on executing your pitches, one pitch at a time. Whatever happens happens. Just focus on the next pitch."
Lopez is a promising 22-year-old who made his eighth big league start. He's worked at least five innings in every outing. But from the first batter of this four-game series, it was a challenge. Ronald Acuña Jr. greeted Lopez with a leadoff home run, and the six runs were the most he's allowed, with the five earned matching a season high.

"Definitely what hurt me today was I didn't execute when I had two-strike counts," Lopez said. "I left the ball in the strike zone a little higher than I wanted to. So mainly, I'll focus on executing down when I have two strikes and try to work on pitches to put guys away."
Braves prospect Touki Toussaint, who grew up playing ball in Coral Springs, Fla., made his big league debut and collected the win. The hard-throwing right-hander gave up one run on two hits in six innings.
Isaac Galloway had an RBI double and a single for the Marlins. Miami had just three hits.
"The past couple of days, we were pretty good at home," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Today was a day we didn't do enough. We kind of hung in there. We don't execute. When we got behind big, it didn't seem like we were very good."

Acuna's leadoff home run was the rookie's 16th of the season. Lopez fell behind in the count, 3-1, and threw a 93-mph four-seam fastball that Acuna crushed to center. Per Statcast™, it was projected at 414 feet with an exit velocity of 105.1 mph.
"I left it right over the plate, right down the middle," Lopez said. "And he put a great swing on it and hit the ball hard."
Back-to-back doubles by Nick Markakis and Johan Camargo gave the Braves a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning, and they tacked on an unearned run in the fifth on Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly. Acuna reached on shortstop JT Riddle's throwing error and scored Atlanta's third run.
Acuna added a two-run double as part of a five-run sixth as the Braves pulled away late.
"He's a great hitter -- for a young hitter, it's amazing what he does at the plate," Lopez said of Acuna. "Don't fall behind, then if you have to put the ball in the strike zone, he's going to put a good swing on it. Work ahead of him. Kind of mix locations. Don't stay in the same spot twice. Just mix locations and just get ahead."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Missed opportunity: Before the score turned lopsided, the Marlins had a chance to grab the lead early, which potentially could have impacted how the game ultimately played out. Down a run in the second, the Marlins tied it on Galloway's RBI double. But they missed a chance to add more. Derek Dietrich led off the inning with a walk, and Riddle singled. Galloway's double gave Miami a second-and-third no-out situation. But Magneuris Sierra's line drive to left wasn't deep enough to score Riddle. Toussaint worked out of it by striking out Yadiel Rivera and Lopez.
"That one hurt, you don't execute," Mattingly said. "Ike gets that double. We get a run. We're second and third. We were in the back part of our order, but ideally, if you can get that over and get one in, you've got a chance really to get two more, really without a hit. But we weren't able to execute there."
SOUND SMART
Galloway had his first MLB multihit game since being called up from Triple-A New Orleans. The outfielder's first big league hit came the day he was brought up -- an infield single at Atlanta on July 31.
HE SAID IT
"He kept us a little bit off balance. I thought we chased a little bit out of the zone. He's a guy, he pitches off that left side. You really can't get a breaking ball out over the outer half. The breaking ball in is really the one to hit." -- Mattingly, on Toussaint's debut
PRADO INJURES QUAD
Making the loss even more painful for the Marlins was the fact that third baseman Martín Prado strained his left quad while chasing a fly ball and was placed on the disabled list. He was lifted for pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas in the third inning, who remained at third base. More >

UP NEXT
In the second game of the day-night doubleheader at 7:35 p.m. ET, Merandy Gonzalez will make his first big league start and eighth appearance. The right-hander made seven relief appearances earlier in the season, but he has spent most of the season at Double-A Jacksonville. Gonzalez was called up from Jacksonville as the 26th man to start the second game. He will return to the Minors after the outing. Mike Foltynewicz will start for Atlanta.