Early offensive explosion propels Braves to 7-0 win over the Marlins

Looking to secure a series win, the Braves faced the imposing top pitching prospect Eury Perez on the mound for Miami, with Charlie Morton starting for Atlanta.

Perez has has some early success in the majors and Atlanta’s hot offense couldn’t have that continuing against them, as they greeted him rudely, going back to back to start the game with a leadoff Ronnie Rocket and an Ozzie Albies wall-scraper to the chop house.

Before Perez could record an out, Riley and Olson singled, Murphy doubled, Ozuna hit a hard chopper that was flubbed by Segura at third and counted as a double, putting the score at 5-0 before Eddie Rosario finally grounded out for the first out. That wasn’t enough for the Braves’ offense, however, as Orlando Arcia hit an RBI double to chase Eury Perez from the game having recorded one out, having conceded six runs and being responsible for the runner on second. What a stunning outcome for the talented rookie who came into the game one of the hottest pitchers in baseball. Harris and Acuna mercifully recorded outs to end the bottom first. The Braves totaled two homers, five extra-base hits, two balls hit over 110 MPH, and six runs in an explosive first against Eury Perez.

After that, baserunners were pretty hard to come by for both offenses through the end of the fifth, as Morton pitched well and Miami’s long relievers found some success where Eury Perez didn’t. The next major threat was Miami’s and they could have made it a game again as Kirby Yates entered the game for Morton in the sixth with two runners on before walking his first batter to load the bases. Kirby should have walked Yuli Gurriel, scoring a run for Miami and who knows what might have happened from there, but the umpire made some...questionable calls resulting in a strikeout instead of a walk.

After another quiet inning for both teams, the Atlanta offense found their bats again in the eighth, as Austin Riley and Matt Olson hit back to back doubles for the Braves’ first hits of the game since the first inning. Sean Murphy was then hit in the tricep, but Ozuna, Pillar, and Arcia recorded outs on balls in play consecutively to end the inning with only the one run scored.

Joe Jimenez got the ninth and worked around a single to finish the shutout of Miami. This was a very strange game as most of the action occurred in the first inning and the rest of the game almost felt like running out the clock.

The Braves are now 8-1 against Miami on the season and 55-27 overall, with an 8.0 game lead over the second-place Marlins in the NL East and the head-to-head tiebreaker over them as well.

Join us tomorrow as the Braves go for another sweep at 1:35 PM ET.