MIAMI — A year ago, the struggling Braves turned to Derek Lowe in September and marveled at how the veteran pitcher turned up his performance and helped lift them into the postseason.
They’ve turned to him this September and rarely seen anything resembling the pitcher who carved a reputation for big performances when they mattered most. Not that he's getting much help either.
Lowe wasn’t bad Wednesday, but wasn’t nearly good enough on a night when Florida’s Javier Vazquez dominated Braves hitters in a 4-0 Marlins win that cut more from Atlanta’s now scant wild-card lead.
The Braves mustered two hits, and their fourth loss in six games reduced their lead to 1 1/2 games over surging St. Louis, who rallied to defeat the New York Mets 6-5, the Cardinals' 12th win in 14 games.
The Braves’ September swoon — 13 losses in their past 20 games — would go down as one of the biggest collapses in history if they fail to reach the playoffs. On Sept. 5, they had an 8-1/2-game wild-card lead over St. Louis and San Francisco.
“He was awesome, he really was,” Braves catcher Brian McCann said of Vazquez (12-11), who allowed two hits and one walk in seven innings to win his fifth consecutive start and extend his scoreless streak to a Marlins-record 25 innings. "He did whatever he wanted to do.
“I think [Lowe] made just two mistakes tonight. One cost him a home run. But the way Javy pitched tonight, one was going to be enough."
Lowe (9-16) allowed three runs and six hits and lost his fourth consecutive start while surpassing his previous career high for losses in a season.
"He was really good," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Lowe. "But going against Vazquez, he needed to be great. Vazquez was great today. What’d we have, two hits? It’s tough to score runs with two hits.”
On Aug. 25, the Cardinals were third in the wild-card race, 10 1/2 games behind the Braves. On Sept. 5, the Braves were 82-58 and still had an 8 1/2-game lead over both St. Louis and San Francisco.
The Braves are off Thursday before a three-game series at Washington, then finish the season with three against Philadelphia.
"We made it definitely kind of tough on ourselves," Lowe said. "But you’re still going to have a lead going into Friday night. Realize that if we keep winning, we’re going to make it.
"That’s the key message is to realize that as bad as it [stinks] right now, you still have control of what’s going to happen.”
They’ve won only six games since Sept. 5, and their “magic number” to clinch the wild card remained six against the Cardinals. Any combination of six Braves wins and Cardinals losses totaling six will do it, but the Cardinals have only lost two of their past 14 games.
“We’ve got six games, we’ve got to go [all out] and not hold anything back,” third baseman Chipper Jones said. "We’ve still got everybody in the rearview mirror. We’ve just got to go take care of business."
Lowe is 0-4 with an 8.24 ERA in his past four starts and 3-9 with a 5.94 ERA in his past 12.
Gaby Sanchez doubled home a run in the second inning, and Brett Hayes hit a leadoff homer in the fifth to put the Marlins ahead 2-0. Pretty much an insurmountable lead the way Vazquez has been pitching.
Vazquez has a 0.25 ERA in his 5-0 run, allowing one run, 19 hits and four walks with 33 strikeouts in 36 innings. The former Braves pitcher has a 1.84 ERA in his past 17 starts.
It was Lowe’s first quality start in September, but it came on a night when the Braves’ slumping offense was no match for Vazquez, the major league ERA leader among starters in September.
It didn’t help that the Braves faced Vazquez without Alex Gonzalez and Jones, who have had more success against him than anyone else on the roster.
Gonzalez, out with a strained calf, was 13-for-41 with a homer against Vazquez. Jones, out of the lineup after returning to Atlanta to be at his son’s surgery Wednesday, was 16-for-57 with two homers against Vazquez.
Jones made it back in the third inning and entered the game in the eighth, with the Marlins up 3-0 and Vazquez in the clubhouse.
The Braves had base runners in only two of seven innings against Vazquez, and wasted those opportunities the way they have so many others lately.
In the fourth, Martin Prado singled and Brian McCann was hit by a pitch to put two on with one out. Dan Uggla popped out foul and Freddie Freeman flied out to end the inning.
In the seventh, McCann drew a leadoff walk and Uggla struck out. After a Freeman fly out, Jason Heyward hit a double high off the left-center wall, nearly a two-run homer.
With two in scoring position, Jack Wilson flied out to shallow right field to end that threat. Wilson played in place of Gonzalez, who could be back in the lineup Friday.
