Braves Drop Another in Miami, 6-2

If there's one thing we can take away from this season, it's probably that big Miami first baseman Justin Bour doesn't have many fans in the Atlanta clubhouse. Bour took Julio Teheran deep to right field in the bottom of the first to put the Marlins on the board, and while the game was a pretty tight affair, the Marlins never really had to look back after that point. (Bour, as you'll recall, broke up Shelby Miller's no-hitter earlier this season with two outs in the ninth.)

Whereas last night's series opener was a nonsensical slugfest with about a trillion runs scored by both teams, tonight's game featured fewer fireworks. Bour's homer opened the scoring, but the Braves struck back against Marlins lefthander Justin Nicolino with a Nick Markakis run-scoring single in the third. While there would be a lull in the scoring in the middle innings, there was still some excitement, including Cameron Maybin, Andrelton Simmons, and Ryan Lavarnway combining to cut down Bour at the plate on a Derek Dietrich double, and Dee Gordon being picked off by Matt Marksberry.

Julio Teheran didn't pitch particularly well against a poor Marlins team, but his overall results were passable. Teheran allowed six hits and four walks in six innings while striking out three, but limited the damage to Bour's two-run shot. Still, he never looked particularly comfortable and missed with numerous pitches, with a few getting away from him altogether. Justin Nicolino managed to keep the Braves to the single run despite striking out none and walking three; he induced ten groundballs and easily worked his way through a weak lineup.

The Braves' best chance to tie the game came in the eighth, with Nicolino out of the game. Michael Bourn singled and advanced to second on an error, Nick Markakis walked, and old friend Mike Dunn walked Freddie Freeman to load the bases with two out. But Adonis Garcia struck out swinging against Bryan Morris to end the threat.

The Braves bullpen then did what they do best in the bottom of the frame. Brandon Cunniff came on, walked Bour to lead off the frame, and then proceeded to allow two more hits and two more walks (one of which drove in a run) to put the game more or less out of reach. The big blow came from Casey McGehee's two-run single. Danny Burawa closed out the pitching side for the Braves, allowing a sacrifice fly before mercifully ending the inning with a 6-1 score.

The Atlanta bats rallied a bit in the top of the 9th against Jose Urena to score another run on a Maybin single, but Urena got the next three hitters in order to end the game and deliver the season's 93rd loss to the Braves.