Off night for Holmes, Braves’ pen leads to lopsided loss
Grant Holmes only lasted four innings Monday, and the Braves’ bullpen gave up seven runs in a 10-4 loss to the Marlins in the first of a three-game series.
Holmes left after four innings having thrown 59 pitches. The Marlins (9-8) had already scored three on Holmes, then they tacked on seven more against Atlanta relief pitching.
Austin Riley drove in two runs for the Braves’ offense and the third baseman’s second RBI of the night got his team within 6-4. The margin would get no closer.
The 10 runs tied a season high for the Marlins, and the 16 hits set a season high. It was also the first time this season the Braves have given up double-digit runs.
Holmes had been perfect through three innings, but then Jakob Marsee rolled a single up the middle to lead off the fourth and everything begin to unravel. A pair of walks loaded the bases, a sacrifice fly to right by Liam Hicks gave the Marlins the lead and an Otto Lopez single to left made it 2-0.
Connor Norby slapped another single, this one to right, scoring a third run for the visitors.
The four-inning outing for Holmes was his shortest of the young season. He only allowed three hits, but two fourth-inning walks both turned into runs.
The Braves (10-7) took Holmes off the hook and responded against Marlins starter Eury Pérez, who had touched 100 mph with his fastball earlier in the evening. Back-to-back singles to right brought Riley to the plate and he laced an RBI hit to left.
Mike Yastrzemski, a .391 career hitter against Pérez coming into the matchup, drove an RBI single to right making it 3-2. Dominic Smith tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right scoring Riley.
Augustín Ramírez made sure Atlanta’s momentum was fleeting by crushing a three-run homer off reliever Aaron Bummer (0-1) in the fifth. Riley’s RBI groundout in the bottom of the fifth got the Braves within two at 6-4, the last bit of life from the Braves’ offense.
Braves reliever Rolddy Muñoz, called up from Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday, promptly gave that run right back — and then some — by serving up a home run ball to Norby to start the sixth, then two more runs on three more hits and a walk allowing the Marlins to enjoy a 9-4 lead.
The Fish attacked José Suarez in the eighth for three hits but were only able to scratch one run across.
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