MIAMI – The Atlanta Braves’ streak of six consecutive NL East titles ended Friday night with a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins when Jake Burger hit a single and a double.
Atlanta (83-71) cannot mathematically win the division and is two games out of the final NL wild-card spot. The Braves have eight games left, including three at home against a New York Mets team they want to beat.
“We’re worried about today,” said manager Brian Snitker. “We want to be 1-0 tomorrow. We have our destiny in our own hands and we have to win the rest. We have eight games left and we have to take care of it tomorrow.”
Kyle Stowers also hit a single and a double for Miami (57-97), putting him on pace for his worst record since 57-105 in 2019.
Valente Bellozo (3-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, and Anthony Bender, Lake Bachar, Declan Cronin and Jesus Tinoco combined for two hits. Tinoco made three straight outs for his second save.
Charlie Morton (8-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings and threw a wild pitch in the fifth inning that scored runs. He is 0-2 in his last three starts.
Ozzie Albies, a right-handed switch hitter, went 0-4 in his return from a fractured left wrist that had kept him out of action since July 21.
Burger hit a scoring ground-rule double in the three-run first inning, which consisted of Stowers’ RBI single and Jonah Bride’s sacrifice fly.
“The most important thing in this game was the first inning,” Morton said. “If I get a couple of guys on base with walks, allow a couple of hits, get my pitch count up or whatever, that’s fine. In the fifth inning, I felt like I was in a position to limit that run, but I didn’t do that.”
Morton added: “It’s like the first inning, you look back and think, ‘man.’ But there’s still a lot of baseball to play. If I could limit them to three (runs) in six (innings), that would be fine considering I allowed three runs in the first. So allowing that run in the fifth inning was more disturbing and frustrating than allowing the one in the first.”
Ramon Laureano and Orlando Arcia hit home runs against Bellozo, with Laureano’s 400-foot hit to center cutting Atlanta’s deficit to 4-3 in the sixth inning. Former Marlin Jorge Soler hit a sacrifice fly in the third inning.
The Marlins rebounded from a 20-4 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday when star hitter Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and stole two bases, becoming the first major league player with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
“That says a lot about the guys in this clubhouse,” Cronin said, “especially the pitchers. We agreed to mess it up and attack the Braves and try to spoil the run of another playoff contender. What you saw today was a perfect example of what baseball is all about. It doesn’t matter what you did the night before. You have another opportunity to come here and compete.”
Burger was named the Marlins’ Most Valuable Player for the 2024 season by the South Florida branch of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cronin was named the top rookie.
TRAINING ROOM
Braves: INF Cavan Biggio was sent to Triple-A Gwinnett in the corresponding move when Albies was activated.
Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara (Tommy John) is playing light catching. … RHP Eury Pérez (Tommy John surgery) started by throwing lightly at 45 feet.
Next
LHP Max Fried (9-10, 3.49) will start the second game of the series for the Braves against Marlins RHP Adam Oller (1-4, 5.40) on Saturday.
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