Braves Denied a Sweep of the Marlins, Lose 6-2

Maholm clearly was not sharp in his start today, laboring into the fifth inning and surrendering four first-inning runs of a 6-2 Marlins win.

In that first inning, Giancarlo Stanton plated two with a double following a walk and a single; Placido Polanco scored Stanton with a double of his own and Jeff Mathis singled home Polanco. Miami batted around in the opening frame, forcing 37 pitches out of the Atlanta lefty.

Atlanta snatched back one of the runs against Jacob Turner in the second inning on back-to-back doubles by Chris Johnson and Dan Uggla - the double by Uggla actually hit first base. A big inning appeared to be brewing, but on a wild pitch third strike to B.J. Upton, Uggla raced to third and was called out on the throw from the catcher Mathis, although he appeared to be safe. B.J. was then picked off first base to snuff out the potential rally.

Maholm was more efficient the next two innings, and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth, but at 103 pitches and two runners on in fifth, he was done. He walked five in 4.1 innings.

Atlanta crept closer on Chris Johnson's RBI groundout in the sixth, scoring Freddie Freeman, but Polanco's two-run single with the bases loaded in the eighth put the game on ice.

Jacob Turner gave up just four hits and three walks in seven innings.