It might be by their fingertips, but the Marlins are still clinging to postseason hopes. Christian Yelich knocked a two-run double and Ichiro Suzuki collected two hits, an RBI and a run scored as Miami held off the Braves, 7-5, on Tuesday night at Turner Field.
A night after rallying back from seven down to pull even only to lose, 12-7, the Marlins overcame a two-run deficit in the first inning after Freddie Freeman homered off Jake Esch.
Ichiro’s leadoff triple jump-started a three-run fifth, which put Miami in front to stay. Marcell Ozuna and Justin Bour produced RBI singles in the inning. But Atlanta closed the gap to 6-5 on Nick Markakis’ two-out RBI single in a two-run seventh.
The speed of Miami’s pinch-runner, Yefri Perez, enabled the Marlins to add an insurance run in the eighth. Running for Bour, Perez dashed home on Chris Withrow’s two-out wild pitch.
Freeman’s two-run homer extended his hitting streak to 19 games, and the first baseman reached 30 home runs for the first time in his career. Matt Kemp homered off Esch in the fourth.
A three-run lead nearly slipped away for Miami in the seventh inning, after Atlanta scored twice. Kyle Barraclough had trouble finding the strike zone, inheriting one on and two outs from Mike Dunn, who relieved Austin Brice. Barraclough walked Kemp before Markakis delivered an RBI single. After Tyler Flowers walked, Barraclough retired Jace Peterson on a fielder’s choice grounder, preserving a 6-5 lead. In the fourth inning, it was Justin Nicolino who got out of a bases-full, two-out jam, retiring Ender Inciarte on one pitch, inducing a comebacker.
Bash bros: Freeman quickly ignited the Braves’ offense with his two-run homer in the first inning. The blast, which left his bat at 109 mph and traveled 416 feet according to Statcast™, tied the first baseman with Kemp for the team lead with 30 home runs and gave Atlanta its first pair of batters with 30 or more homers in a season since Andruw Jones and Adam LaRoche in 2006. Kemp quickly regained the lead, however, as he hit a solo shot to lead off the fourth. The homer, which had an exit velocity of 108 mph and went 434 feet, marked the left fielder’s fifth in his past 13 games. During that span, he’s batting .368 (21-for-57) with 13 RBIs.
