Braves’ woes continue with 8-2 loss to Marlins

Kyle Wright couldn’t escape the fourth inning and the Miami Marlins small balled their way to an 8-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.

The game got off to a good enough start for the Braves as Travis d’Arnaud jumped on the first pitch he saw from Pablo Lopez and drove it out to left center for his third home run of the season. Kyle Wright needed just four pitches to get through the bottom half of the first and pitched around a single and walk in a scoreless second.

However, things came apart for Wright in the third as he once again seemed to lose command. The inning started well enough as Wright struck out Jon Berti. The then walked the No. 9 hitter Magneuris Sierra who would steal second and come around to score on an excuse me double by Jonathan Villar. Wright then got Jesus Aguilar to fly out for the second out.

Things went sideways from there as Wright issued three straight walks to Corey Dickerson, Matt Joyce and Brian Anderson to force in a run and put Miami in front 2-1. He would escape further damage as Francisco Cervelli lined out to Swanson at third for the final out.

Atlanta would tie the game again in the fourth thanks to back-to-back doubles by Nick Markakis and Adam Duvall.

Wright would come back out for the fourth inning but would be pulled after walking Eddy Alvarez on four pitches. He would exit having thrown 3+ innings while allowing two hits and three runs. He walked six and finished with just one strikeout. Wright threw 65 pitches with only 29 landing in the strike zone.

Grant Dayton replaced Wright and immediately ran into to trouble as Berti singled with Alvarez moving all the way to third. Sierra would bring Alvarez home with a safety squeeze play to make it 3-2. Villar followed with an infield single to third. Dayton then got Aguilar to fly out for the second out with Berti tagging and moving over to third on the play. With Corey Dickerson at the plate, the Marlins pulled off a double steal with Berti scoring on the throw down to second to extend the lead to 4-2.

Miami tacked on two more runs in the sixth against Luke Jackson on a sac fly by Aguilar and a run-scoring single by Dickerson. Aguilar struck again in the seventh plating two more runs against Jackson on a rocket ground ball that was deflected off the glove of Dansby Swanson to increase the lead to 8-2.

Atlanta has gotten a lot of mileage out of its bullpen this season but Dayton and Jackson combined to allow nine hits, two walks and five runs in four innings of relief.

Pablo Lopez pitched well for the Marlins holding the Braves to just two runs on seven hits in six innings of work. Lopez struck out eight batters and didn’t walk anyone.

Atlanta’s losing streak extends to four straight games and they drop to 11-10 on the season. Max Fried will try to stop the bleeding on Saturday while Miami will counter with left-hander Daniel Castano.