Justin Upton is having himself a hot month of August. He homered and drove in three runs to help the Braves take the first game of this weekend set with the Marlins.
Ervin Santana escaped early trouble in the first inning after walking the bases loaded. Against Tom Koehler, Atlanta's offense put the leadoff hitter on in each of the first three innings but failed to score. Santana would settle down after a 32-pitch first inning to last five more frames, keeping Miami off the scoreboard until the sixth.
With one out and two on in the top of the sixth, Marcell Ozuna roped a double to right. Casey McGehee scored from second easily, but the relay from Jason Heyward was in time to nail Garrett Jones at the plate.
Koehler was stingy as well, allowing only three hits through five innings, but Justin Upton took him deep - REAL deep - for a two-run homer in the sixth to put the Braves in front.
That lead was short lived because in the seventh, Jordany Valdespin came off the bench and hit a wall-scraper of a home run to left off David Carpenter to tie the score.
Koehler was finally out of the game and the offense went to work against Miami's bullpen. On the first pitch of the seventh, Andrelton Simmons dropped down a beautiful bunt single; Ramiro Pena then lined a single that glanced off Jones's glove allowing Simmons to reach third; Heyward would put the Braves in front for good, poking a single through a drawn-in infield to score the go-ahead run. Two outs later, Justin Upton singled home two more runs with help from Ozuna's misplay in center.
Upton set a new personal best for RBI in a season; Craig Kimbrel notched his 40th save.
Win Expectancy