MIAMI – The Braves need to make the most of their nine-game road trip against lackluster foes. So far, they have.
An explosive inning led the Braves past the Marlins 12-2 Monday at Marlins Park. It was the Braves’ eighth consecutive road win, improving their record to 4-0 on the current road trip.
Here are five takeaways from Monday:
1. The Braves earned the victory with a seven-run fourth that felt like the fireworks of a season ago, when the team had arguably the best offense in franchise history.
First baseman Freddie Freeman’s three-run homer snapped a 2-2 tie. It was Freeman’s second consecutive game with a homer after hitting only one in his prior 81 plate appearances (20 games).
Second baseman Ozzie Albies and shortstop Dansby Swanson collected RBIs. Outfielder Adam Duvall, who was a Marlin until July 30, crushed a monstrous blast 445 feet to left to cap the inning.
“Our lineup is so long, especially for a left-handed starter (like Miami’s Braxton Garrett on Monday),” Freeman said. “It’s very hard to navigate. It’s nice to be playing consistently good baseball. That’s what we’ve been looking for all year, to play consistently good. I’m glad we were good enough to tread water until we got some reinforcements. Once we got the reinforcements, we see how good this team is.”
2. Monday marked the Braves’ 11 win in 13 games. It was the second time during the stretch that the Braves scored double-digit runs, joining Saturday’s 12-2 win in Washington. In their last 13 games, the Braves are averaging almost 6.5 runs per contest.
3. Duvall was a nightmare for the Braves while with Miami. The slugger hit 14-for-38 (.368) with five homers and 17 RBIs in 12 games against his current team.
On Monday, he played the former-team card, as manager Brian Snitker calls it, for the Braves.
“I kept waiting for it – he had two at-bats, I was wondering if he was going to do it tonight or not,” Snitker said. “I hope he does to them what he did to us all year.”
4. Five players in the Braves’ lineup had multiple hits: Albies (three), outfielder Jorge Soler (two), Freeman (three), Swanson (two) and catcher Travis d’Arnaud (two). It was another demonstration of their revamped lineup’s depth and potency.
“When I came out of the game, I told Snit, ‘It’s pretty amazing we have a silver slugger (d’Arnaud) hitting seventh right now,” Freeman said. “Every guy is clicking right now, right when we needed it too. Getting hot at the right time. It’s been fun. The lineup has been moving a lot lately. That’s all you can ask for.”
5. Braves starter Touki Toussaint, pitching in his native South Florida, surrendered two solo homers over the first two innings. He rebounded to post 6-1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two.
Toussaint has allowed two or fewer runs in five of his six starts. He’s completed at least five frames in all but one of those starts, and he’s exceeded six innings in three of them.
“I just kept attacking,” Toussaint said. “(The homers) are going to happen. If I’m throwing strikes, they’re going to hit balls hard and they’re going to miss them. It’s like the saying, if you throw a ball in the same spot 10 times, you’ll get 10 different results.”
Stat to know
1-1/2 (The Phillies were off Monday, so the Braves added a half-game to their divisional lead.)
Quotable
“It’s just nice to be in the dugout when he’s doing that and not on the field when he’s doing that against us.” – Freeman on Duvall
Up next
Huascar Ynoa (4-2, 3.02) returns from a broken hand to make his first start since May 16 against Marlins righty Sandy Alcantara (7-10, 3.52).
