Braves fry Fish with 5-run sixth

MIAMI — The Braves got three-run homers from Austin Riley and Dominic Smith, scored five runs in the sixth inning and got another sweet start from Chris Sale in a 9-1 win over the Marlins on Wednesday at loanDepot Park.

After losing Monday’s game 12-0, the Braves (34-16) will go for another series win Thursday night. They have outscored the Fish 17-5 the past two days.

Some of that is because of Smith’s three-run shot that was part of the Braves’ five-run inning. Riley’s bomb came in the second and quickly gave Sale and the Braves a lead neither would relinquish.

Smith also was involved in the wildest highlight of the game in the eighth inning. His fly ball to the gap in deep right went off the glove of center fielder Esteury Ruiz, who collided with right fielder Owen Caissie. Smith raced for third as the ball rolled away in the outfield and scampered home on Caissie’s throw back to the infield, which went to no one in particular.

The Marlins were charged two errors on the play.

After Sale (7-3) had to throw 21 pitches in the first inning, he settled into a dominant groove. The Marlins had just two hits — one an infield single — after the first inning, and Sale ended his outing by retiring six straight.

The veteran lefty threw seven innings and allowed just one run and only four hits. He struck out eight, and 67 of his 96 pitches were strikes.

Sale came into Wednesday’s outing without recording a win against three current MLB franchises: St. Louis, Atlanta and Miami. Miami has been crossed off the list.

The Marlins (22-28) had jumped on Sale in the first Wednesday with back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. Heriberto Hernandez hit a line drive 103 mph off the bat for a sacrifice line drive to center to score Xavier Edwards from third, giving the Marlins an early lead.

That lead didn’t last long.

Ozzie Albies and Mauricio Dubón singled in the second to set the table for Riley. Riley took a first-pitch sweeper from Marlins starter Janson Junk and belted it 415 feet to dead center for his eighth homer of the season and fifth long ball this month.

Junk retired 11 straight after the Riley home run and until Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the sixth with a first-pitch single up the middle. Michael Harris II rolled a single to left, and Acuña aggressively took third, avoiding the tag on a head-first slide by pulling his right hand back toward his body and reaching for the bag with his left hand.