Atlanta Braves Destroy Marlins – Early and Late
No, the Braves still haven’t hit a home run this season, but that has hardly slowed the offense. The Braves jumped on Marlins’ starter Mat Latos for 6 hits, 2 walks and seven earned runs. He never finished the first inning, getting just two outs (one of those a sacrifice by Braves’ starter Alex Wood).
It was indeed a “laugher” for Atlanta: a 12-2 final featuring 14 total hits, 9 for 16 with runners in scoring position, 4 doubles, and just 5 strikeouts against 7 walks.
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Of the 8 starting position players, only Kelly Johnson and Jace Peterson failed to garner hits – and they still combined for 4 walks and 2 runs scored. Third baseman Chris Johnson, benched for the opener, started off with a booming double in the 1st, drove in 2 runs and went 2 for 5 on the night.
Alex Wood looked a bit rusty out of the gate – perhaps because of the half-hour-long top-of-the-first inning, which included his own AB – but after loading the bases, he then proceeded to get out of the inning without allowing the Fish to score… the second night in a row they have failed in that situation.
Wood did yield 2 runs in the 5th, but that didn’t put the game in any danger. His elevated pitch counts (85) did mean that he did not go past that 5th inning. That provided an opportunity for the rookies to throw in a non-pressure situation.
Rookies on Parade
The debuts went amazingly well:
- Brandon Cunniff: 1K, 1BB, no hits, 18 pitches.
- Cody Martin: 1 hit (grounder up the middle), 4 strikeouts, no walks. That merely was a continuation of what he’s done all Spring. He looked poised and sharp… like he’d been there many times before.
- Juan Jaime (not his ML debut) finished up. He was a bit shaky, walking the first batter, but seemed to improve with coaxing along the way: 1K, no hits.
Martin might have ended up with the three inning save except that the Atlanta offense teed off on Miami closer Steve Cishek in the 9th inning – which would have put Martin up to bat. Fredi Gonzalez had none of that and instead opted for PH Alberto Callaspo. He singled in a run and scored as part of a 4-run ninth.
So it’s a win for Alex Wood, a second win for the Braves, and Shelby Miller will try to repeat this success tomorrow in the series finale vs. Tom Koehler. 7:10 EDT start time. A sweep?? Believe it – It’s possible.
I have no idea how long this will last, but it’s sure fun to watch!!