MIAMI -- The Marlins never feel a game is out of reach thanks to the addition of power bats like Jorge Soler.

That was the case in Friday night’s 5-3 loss to the Braves at loanDepot park, where Soler homered and doubled in his return to the lineup from lower back stiffness. Representing the tying run in the ninth, he also sharply flied out to center for the final out.

Soler, who missed Miami’s previous two games, sent Charlie Morton’s hanging curveball to the Budweiser Bar for a two-run homer in the sixth inning, trimming the deficit to 5-3. He added a seventh-inning double to the right-center gap, but Adam Duvall played it perfectly off the wall and kept Jesús Aguilar from scoring. With a pair of runners in scoring position with two outs, Avisaíl García flied out to end the frame in a game in which Miami left nine on base.

“You can see they're good when they're starting to stay in the middle of the field,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “Soli's been there for a while. The barrel's starting to stay in the middle of the field. Avi's been better. He gets the base hit to right tonight, hits the ball good later. If that barrel stays in the middle of the field and starts to keep going in that direction, we're going to be in a good spot.”

That quartet of Soler, Duvall, Aguilar and García is part of an interconnected story that begins in December 2020, when Atlanta non-tendered Duvall because the organization was unsure whether his cost might exceed his value. In February 2021, he signed a one-year, $5 million guaranteed deal with a $7 million mutual option for '22 with Miami.

The streaky Duvall quickly became one of the club's top run producers (22 HRs, 68 RBIs) along with Aguilar, and regularly manned center field for the first time in his career. But with the Marlins out of contention as the Trade Deadline approached, and with enviable pieces available to contending teams, the Marlins dealt Duvall to the NL East-rival Braves for catching prospect Alex Jackson.

The deal addressed a position lacking depth within the organization and provided some financial flexibility moving forward. While Duvall finished with 38 homers (second in NL) and 113 RBIs (first), Jackson couldn’t translate his Minor League stats to the Majors. He slashed .157/.260/.278 with three homers and 60 strikeouts in 123 plate appearances.

Making matters even worse was Duvall going deep twice and driving in six runs in the World Series for the champion Braves. Before Opening Day this past April, Miami traded Jackson to Milwaukee for Minor League infielder Hayden Cantrelle in order to make room on the 40-man roster.

But the Marlins already had moved on during an active offseason, prioritizing adding multiple bats to improve one of the Majors’ worst offenses. They used some of the money off the books from Duvall to sign García (four years, $53 million) and World Series MVP Soler (one year, $12 million with ‘23-24 options). The club also received infielder Joey Wendle and Gold Glove-winning catcher Jacob Stallings in trades with Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh, respectively.

“We've seen and saw today what kind of damage [Soler] can do if you miss location and don't make a good pitch,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “After last year, I got a new respect and appreciation of how good a hitter he really is. I don't care about average or whatever, he has good at-bats. And he grinds at-bats. Just seeing him, I don't even look at stats on him, because I just know the presence that he is in the box.”

That wasn’t the case in April. Both the 30-year-old Soler (2 HRs, .587 OPS) and 30-year-old García (one home run, .501 OPS) opened their Marlins careers with a forgettable first month. Duvall, 33, has a slash line of .200/.257/.296 in 38 games, doubling once in four at-bats on Friday. Arbitration-eligible for the final time, Duvall still hasn’t come to an agreement with Atlanta on a 2022 salary.

Soler and García, at least, have begun to find their groove. Since the calendar turned to May, Soler has six homers and 14 RBIs in 16 games. García has a hit in 10 of his last 12 games.

“I feel very well at home plate,” Soler said via an interpreter. “I'm being very selective, and that's why I'm making better contact with the baseball.”