Giancarlo Stanton added to his Major League-leading home run total by teeing off on a couple of R.A. Dickey knuckleballs, but Adam Conley’s successful run against Atlanta was halted by a Nick Markakis three-run shot that gave the Braves a 5-3 win over the Marlins on Friday night at SunTrust Park.
One night after recording his 2,000th career hit, Markakis delivered the decisive blow in the sixth against Conley, who entered the inning having not allowed an earned run over his past 19 innings versus Atlanta. Markakis’ sixth homer of the season erased the lead the Marlins had gained courtesy of Stanton’s 26th career multi-homer game and the eighth he has recorded this year. He leads the Majors with 35 home runs.
Stanton’s homers accounted for two of the three hits surrendered over six innings by Dickey, who otherwise quieted a Marlins club that had won six of its previous eight games. The veteran knuckleballer pitched with an early advantage courtesy of multiple defensive miscues that helped the Braves tally a run in the first.
