09/21/24 12:12:00
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09/21 00:10 CDT Braves' run of 6 straight NL East titles ends with 4-3 loss to
Marlins
Braves' run of 6 straight NL East titles ends with 4-3 loss to Marlins
By ALANIS THAMES
AP Sports Writer
MIAMI (AP) --- The Atlanta Braves' run of six straight NL East titles ended
Friday night with a 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins as Jake Burger singled and
doubled.
Atlanta (83-71) cannot mathematically win the division and trails by two games
for the last NL wild-card spot. The Braves have eight games left, including
three at home against a New York Mets team they are trying to overcome.
"What we do is we worry about today," manager Brian Snitker said. "We're going
to want to go 1-0 tomorrow. We control our own destiny, and we need to win the
rest of them. We're down to eight, and we need to take care of business
tomorrow."
Kyle Stowers also singled and doubled for Miami (57-97), on track for its worst
record since going 57-105 in 2019.
Valente Bellozo (3-4) allowed three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings and
Anthony Bender, Lake Bachar, Declan Cronin and Jesus Tinoco combined for
two-hit relief. Tinoco got three straight outs for his second save.
Charlie Morton (8-9) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings and threw
a run-scoring wild pitch in the fifth. He is 0-2 in his last three starts.
Ozzie Albies, a switch-hitter batting right-handed only, was 0 for 4 in his
return from a fractured left wrist that had sidelined him since July 21.
Burger hit a run-scoring ground-rule double in a three-run first that included
Stowers' RBI single and Jonah Bride's sacrifice fly.
"The story of that game was the first inning," Morton said. "If I walk a couple
guys, give up a couple hits, run my pitch count up or whatever, that's fine.
Got to the fifth inning and I felt like I was in a position where I could limit
that run, and I didn't."
Added Morton: "It's like the first inning, you look back and it's like ?man.'
But there's still a lot of baseball to be played. If I could limit them to
three (runs) through six (innings), that's OK considering I gave up three runs
in the first. So to give up that run in the fifth was more troubling and more
frustrating than the ones in the first."
Ramon Laureano and Orlando Arcia homered off Bellozo, with Laureano's 404-foot
drive to center cutting Atlanta's deficit to 4-3 in the sixth. Former Marlin
Jorge Soler had a sacrifice fly in the third.
The Marlins bounced back from a 20-4 loss to the Dodgers on Thursday, when star
slugger Shohei Ohtani homered three times and stole two bases to become the
first major leaguer with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
"It speaks a lot to the guys in this clubhouse," Cronin said, "especially the
pitching staff. We agreed to flush it and go after the Braves and try to spoil
another playoff (contender's) run. What you saw today was a perfect example of
what baseball is all about. It doesn't matter what you did the night before.
You have another opportunity to come out here and compete."
Burger was voted the Marlins' most valuable player for the 2024 season by South
Florida's chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Cronin was
voted top rookie.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: INF Cavan Biggio was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in the corresponding
move as Albies was activated.
Marlins: RHP Sandy Alcantara (Tommy John) is playing light catch. ... RHP Eury
Prez (Tommy John surgery) began light throwing at 45 feet.
UP NEXT
LHP Max Fried (9-10, 3.49) will start the second game of the series for the
Braves on Saturday against Marlins RHP Adam Oller (1-4, 5.40).
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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