Sooner or later, the Braves will surely stage a winning rally in the late innings. After all, it is a 162-game season.

But if it's to happen in April, they have only six more chances.

Pouya Dianat / AJC (ENLARGE)

Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla slides safely into home as an offline throw eludes Braves catcher Brian McCann in the eighth.

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The Florida Marlins scored three first-inning runs via the long ball and cruised to a 7-2 victory Wednesday night at Turner Field against a Braves team that has shown no proclivity for the late rally.

"It will go down tonight as a night when we didn't do it when it counted," said left fielder Matt Diaz, alluding to the team's 1-for-14 performance with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-3 in the seventh when it was a 3-2 game.

Diaz's leadoff homer in the second inning was the only earned run for Atlanta.

Braves fill-in starter Jeff Bennett (0-1) gave up three hits, including two homers in the first inning, then only two hits for the remainder of his six-inning stint. The right-hander had a 100.7 fever Tuesday.

He kept the Braves in the game, but the lead proved insurmountable for a team that's won once all season after the opponent scored first.

"He pitched great — I can't ask any more from him," manager Bobby Cox said. "Six innings out of him, that was impossible. But he did it.

"We were one hit from winning the game several times. Just didn't hit good at the right time."

The Braves are 8-for-44 (.182) with runners in scoring position in their past four games, after batting .279 in those situations previously.

"Seems like they come in bunches," said center fielder Mark Kotsay, who grounded into an inning-ending double play with two runners on base in the third. "Right now, we just can't seem to get the timely hit."

They trailed by only one run after six innings, but the Braves have trailed after the sixth inning in eight of 21 games this season — and lost every time.

(They've also lost three games when leading after six, but that's another story.)

The Braves were a big hit away until things spiraled in the last two innings against relievers Blaine Boyer and Chris Resop. Then the Braves were done.

Resop, who gave up three hits and two runs in the ninth, has a 9.72 ERA and 19 baserunners allowed in 8 1/3 innings. He has been alarmingly bad a few times.

Hanley Ramirez connected with Bennett's second pitch and drove it over the center-field fence, and Mike Jacobs added a two-run homer before the first inning was over.

"I was overthrowing in the first inning," said Bennett, who said his recent sickness didn't affect him. "The pitches were just up, and they got them."

The Braves scored an unearned run in the first inning and Diaz's second homer of the season in the second against Marlins left-hander Andruw Miller (1-2). But that was all the offense they mustered.

Diaz has a .431 career average and seven homers in 109 at-bats against the Marlins.

Miller had been 0-4 with a 12.15 ERA in seven starts since August, when he was still with Detroit. He gave up nine hits, but the Braves stranded multiple runners three times in the first four innings.

After Mark Teixeira's RBI single in the first, the Braves still had two on with one out. Jeff Francoeur popped out, and Brian McCann grounded out.

With runners at second and third and two out in the second inning, Miller intentionally walked Chipper Jones to loaded the bases. Then Teixeira hit a fielder's choice grounder.

With two on and one out in the fourth, Jones broke his bat on a flyout to left before Teixeira hit another inning-ending fielder's choice.

The Braves still had a prime opportunity in the seventh, trailing 3-2 with a runner at second with none out. The next three batters grounded out.

NEXT FOR BRAVES

• Who: vs. Marlins

• When: 7 p.m. today

• TV; radio: SportSouth; 640 AM, 94.9 FM