Braves suffer 67th loss with Friday night dud against Marlins

The lengthy list of forgettable Braves losses grew by one Friday night.

After a sterling comeback victory a day earlier, the Braves’ bats flopped in a 5-1 loss to the Marlins at Truist Park. That’s been the season’s theme; even when the Braves produce a rare dazzling game or series, the team follows with a dud.

The Braves had one hit across five innings against Marlins righty Edward Cabrera, who was sought at the trade deadline but ultimately stayed put. Cabrera has electric stuff and, at his best, can mow down most lineups, particularly one like the Braves’ that’s been plagued by inconsistency.

Cabrera allowed one run and struck out 11 over eight innings. He has a 2.22 ERA since May, one of several breakout players for the upstart Marlins.

“He’s always had a really good arm,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s throwing that hard change-up and breaking balls. The fastball was good tonight, too.”

Left fielder Jurickson Profar homered off Cabrera in the sixth for the team’s lone run. It was Profar’s sixth homer in his debut Braves season, which has underwhelmed because of a disappointing overall performance (.726 OPS) and an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.

Unfortunately for the Braves, Profar’s blast to the Chop House was their only highlight of the evening. They had two hits and saw just five men reach base.

Starter Bryce Elder was, at times, victimized by soft contact, but he didn’t pitch well, surrendering five runs on seven hits in six frames. Miami’s Heriberto Hernandez capped the outing with a two-run homer off Elder in the fifth.

Elder was thrust into a regular role because of injuries in the rotation, but the 2023 All-Star failed to seize the opportunity. His ERA exceeds 6.00 in 19 outings.

“Inconsistencies, I think,” Snitker said. “He’s been really good at times and then not-so-good. I didn’t think he threw all that bad tonight. He’s like our team: He’s never really got on a roll. He’s had some good games, but then in between the good ones, there hasn’t been a lot of consistency. Kind of like our season.”

Elder hasn’t performed at a level that the Braves should even feel OK about him as a fifth-starter option in 2026 (the team will have rotation questions beyond its Big Three, especially if Grant Holmes isn’t fully ready to go by the season’s outset).

“Being a sinker-ball guy, there’s going to be years where I give up a lot of runs,” Elder said. “But (the rest of the season, success looks like) continuing to eat innings. The more innings I eat, the more comfortable I’ll get with the feel of everything. That’s when things usually get good. The later in games I get, the sinker starts sinking, and I get a better feel. Just keep getting late in games and give us a chance.”