The Marlins’ offense hit early, often, and ended strong against the Braves in today’s exhibition baseball. The Braves failed to make another miraculous comeback and ended up losing by a score of 6-2.
After finding themselves in a hole during last night’s game against Miami, the Braves apparently decided that they enjoyed the experience so much that they would like to do it again. This time, the hole was much smaller for Atlanta, as Miami initially held a two-run lead late in the third inning. Kyle Wright gave Brian Anderson an opening double in the second inning and that turned into a run after Jorge Alfaro’s single. Then, in the third inning, it looked like Wright was going to escape the inning unscathed after he removed Jonathan Villar to clear the bases with two outs. After a walk to Corey Dickerson and a double from Harold Ramírez, Miami had doubled its lead.
Atlanta’s first seven hitters didn’t make it to base before Austin Riley came to bat with one out in the bottom of the third inning. Riley emphatically changed things for the Braves after he hit a high shot 438 feet to midfield to put the Braves on the board.
By the time the fifth inning came, Kyle Wright had already finished the day after getting the first two outs of the fourth inning. Then it was Mark Melancon’s turn to take the shot, and after getting the first two outs pretty fast, things got sour in a hurry. Corey Dickerson received some love from the baseball gods after he hit a blooper that landed in a perfect position to elude three Braves players chasing the ball. This innocuous bloop single became a malignant problem for the Braves only a few pitches later, once Harold Ramírez deposited a hanger in the vast expanse of empty seats in left center field to give Miami the 4-1 lead. .
The Braves responded immediately in the next frame, and once again it was Austin Riley who caused the damage. While Riley’s second diner of the day didn’t go as far as his moon shot did from the third inning, it was still impressive to see the correct one send one to the sterile Chop House for Atlanta’s second race of the day.
The score was still 4-2 in Miami’s favor when the game entered the ninth inning. Luke Jackson was called to work and let’s just say things didn’t go well. The only thing that was positive in regards to the results for Luke was that he got one. After that happened, he delivered three punches and a walk before Brian Snitker gave him the hook. Once the smoke disappeared after Huascar Ynoa put out the fire, the Marlins had a 6-2 lead. On this day, the Braves were unable to get out of the hole.
Although the game was not like Atlanta, the result was inconsequential. Most importantly, the Braves were able to exit the game without seeing any key players fall due to injury. This means the Braves should be ready for the regular-season action that awaits them in New York City on Friday afternoon. Friends, we’re almost there.
