Ender Inciarte grew up watching Braves games in his native Venezuela and says he vaguely remembered seeing Andruw Jones drawing a “walk-off walk,” something that Jones did twice but most memorably in the 11th inning of Game 6 to clinch the 1999 National League Championship Series against the Mets.
The stakes weren’t in any way comparable but the moment was still special Saturday night when Inciarte drew a bases-loaded, four-pitch walk by reliever Kyle Barraclough to give the Braves a 6-5 win over the Marlins at SunTrust Park. It was the first walk-off walk by a Brave since Jones did it in a July 2005 game against the Nationals, also on four pitches.
“I don’t remember that I’ve ever been a part of one,” Inciarte said.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “I told TP (bench coach Terry Pendleton), I’m not sure I’ve been a part of one. I’ve seen ‘em on TV, but that might be the first that I can remember that I was a part of. We’ll take it.”
Kurt Suzuki had three hits including a leadoff single in the ninth for the Braves, who got their third win in four games and clinched at least a split of the four-game series that ends Sunday.
“That’s the first one I think I’ve ever been a part of, a walk-off walk,” said Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson, who drew a walk after Suzuki’s leadoff single, but only after a Barraclough wild pitch whizzed by Swanson’s head as he went to the ground to get out of its path. “Can’t really complain about any kind of walk-off win.”
After Swanson walked, fellow rookie Johan Camargo laid down a sacrifice bunt to advanced both runners and bring up Lane Adams, who faced a shift with three Marlins on the left side of the infield and two on the right, all at the front edge.
He hit a hard grounder to the shortstop and pinch-runner Micah Johnson was thrown out trying to score. Then Nick Markakis, in his first at-bat in three games since bruising his right wrist and missing three starts, drew a walk to load the bases. Markakis had entered Saturday’s game in the top of the ninth inning and will be back in the lineup Sunday.
Inciarte stepped to the plate and didn’t need to swing the bat, taking four pitches for the win.
“I was actually swinging until I got to 2-0, when I saw he was really struggling to throw strikes,” he said. “So I was going to take and see if he could find the zone, then get back in (swing mode).”
Barraclough never did find the zone and the Braves poured from the dugout to celebrate their second walk-off win in three days against the Marlins. Four of their past five walk-off wins have come against the Marlins.
Braves prospect Max Fried wasn’t as sharp in his first home start as he’d been last weekend at Wrigley Field and lasted just 3 2/3 innings, but the left-hander got plenty of support from Atlanta’s offense and beleaguered bullpen.
Fried allowed six hits, four runs (three earned) and one walk with three strikeouts and got no decision in his second major league start.
“I didn’t have my curveball tonight and feel like I was having a hard time putting guys away,” said Fried, who threw 71 pitches, his most since piling up 72 in 2 1/3 innings of a Double-A start June 29, his last game before spending three weeks on the disabled list for blisters on two fingers. “Fortunately for me, teammates picked me up.”
“Lucas (Sims) came in, and the rest of the bullpen, and really looked good and we got the win.”
Braves left fielder Matt Kemp made the defensive play of the game when he sprinted and dove to catch Marcell Ozuna’s soft liner in the gap with the score tied and a runner at second in the seventh inning. Then he got to his feet and threw to second base to double up Christian Yelich, who had doubled to start the inning and was running on the Ozuna liner.
“That play was unbelievable,” said Inciarte, a Gold Glove center fielder. “I told him right away, I don’t know if I can make that play. I mean, he was flying.”
Camargo had a two-run homer in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth, though his base-running mistake on the latter was costly.
The Braves trailed by two runs and had two on with one out in the fifth when Camargo singled to drive in a run and cut the lead to 5-4. He was thrown out trying to advance to second on a throw on the play, after initially slowing down past first base and then again as he approached second base.
Camargo didn’t slide and was tagged out while trying to lunge a foot awkwardly toward the base at the last second.
“He didn’t do what he was supposed to do or he would have been safe,” Snitker said. “But he came through with that sacrifice bunt. Just a careless (base running play) when he didn’t slide and probably got a little too casual out of the box, really. That’s where that play started to go awry. But like I say, they’re young and they’re going to make mistakes, and they’ll learn from it.”
An inning later, the Braves tied the score with a run on singles from pinch-hitter Jace Peterson, Inciarte and Freddie Freeman, who got the RBI hit.
Fried wasn’t as efficient with his pitches as he’d been in his first major league start Sunday at Wrigley, when he picked up the win in his first start after limiting the Cubs to four hits, one run and three walks in five innings and threw 37 strikes in 62 pitches.
On Saturday he gave up a first-inning homer to major league leader Giancarlo Stanton, needed 23 pitches to get through a scoreless second inning, and was at 36 pitches after two.
Fried came back with a perfect third inning before running into trouble in the fourth, when the Marlins started the inning with two runs on three consecutive hits (including J.T. Realmuto’s triple), followed by two-base error on first baseman Freeman and a ground-out that drove in the third run of the inning and pushed the Marlins’ lead to 4-0.
The Marlins also got a two-out single from Dee Gordon and had runners on the corners with Stanton up when fellow rookie Lucas Sims replaced Fried and got the slugger to ground out to end the inning. Sims was bumped to the bullpen this week after making seven starts.
After the Marlins scored three runs in the fourth to open a 4-0 lead and chase Fried from the game, the Braves answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, the big blow coming on Camargo’s fourth homer. Lane Adams also singled, advanced on bunts by Sims (sacrifice) and Inciarte (base hit) and scored on an Ozzie Albies double.
Until the mutual three-run innings in the fourth, the game’s only run had come on Stanton’s one-out homer in the first inning, his majors-leading 54th and his 43rd homer in 94 games since moving into the No. 2 spot in the batting order. That’s the second-most in major league history from that spot in the order behind Braves great Eddie Mathews, who hit 46 while batting second for the 1959 Milwaukee Braves.
Stanton’s home run was his fourth in his 30th at-bat at SunTrust Park, all four in a span of 15 at-bats beginning with a two-homer game Aug. 4.
