Braves close out regular season with 12-9 loss in Miami

The Atlanta Braves wrapped up the 2022 regular season with a 12-9 loss to the Miami Marlins.

Jackson Stephens worked a scoreless first, but ran into some trouble in the second. Peyton Burdick singled with the bases loaded to bring home two to stake Miami to a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, JJ Bleday brought home another run with a single to right to make it 3-0. Stephens escaped further damage by getting Bryan De La Cruz to bounced into a double play to end the inning.

The Braves answered back in the third as Robbie Grossman and Guillermo Heredia hit back-to-back doubles to put a run on the board at 3-1. Heredia moved over to third on a fly out and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Vaughn Grissom to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Stephens held serve in the home half of the third and Atlanta tied the game in the fourth. Matt Olson nearly tied the game as he launched a deep fly to right center, but was robbed on a leaping catch at the wall by Peyton Burdick. William Contreras then hit a deep fly that hit a rafter on the roof of loadDepot Park that went for a single. Contreras moved up to second on a wild pitch and then came around to score on a two-out single by Eddie Rosario to tie the game.

Tyler Matzek took over in the fourth and worked a perfect fourth. He stayed in for the fifth and things got sideways. Jon Berti walked to lead off the inning but erased on a double play grounder by Bleday. De La Cruz then singled, stole second and moved over to third as Contreras’ throw bounced away at second. Matzek then walked Nick Fortes and then uncorked a wild pitch that scored De La Cruz to give Miami back the lead. Jesus Sanchez brought home another run with a single that scored Fortes to make it 5-3.

Undeterred, the Braves came right back in the sixth. Olson got things started with his 44th double of the season. Contreras walked and Marcell Ozuna finished off an eight-pitch at-bat with a three-run homer to left o put Atlanta in front 6-5.

The see saw continued in the home half of the sixth with Jesse Chavez on the mound. Again a leadoff walk proved costly as Jordan Groshans earned the free pass and then moved up to second on a single by Burdick. Chavez struck out Lewin Diaz for the first out, but then surrendered a triple to Jon Berti that put the Marlins back in front 7-6. Bleday followed with another triple to right to push Miami’s advantage to 8-6.

Chavez was replaced by Silvino Bracho who struck out De La Cruz for the second out, but then gave up a two-run shot to Fortes to make it 10-6.

Atlanta got two of the runs back in the seventh as Grissom hit a ground-rule double to right and then came around to score on Olson’s 34th home run of the season.

Miami got those two runs back in the home half of the seventh when Burdick took Bracho deep to left to push the lead back to 12-8. The Braves loaded the bases in the ninth and tacked on their ninth run of the night on an RBI single by Guillermo Heredia to round out the scoring.

Atlanta finishes with a 101-61 record. They will enjoy five days off before opening the Division Series at home against either the Phillies or the Cardinals.