Braves’ rally falls short in 12-11 loss to Marlins

“Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” said Braves left fielder Michael Bourn, who had three hits but grounded into a double play after Hector Olivera’s leadoff single in the ninth inning. “I mean, happy that we had some success against their pitching, but you want to win the ballgame.”

Fernandez (6-0) gave up six runs in five innings but got his major league modern-era record 17th home win without a loss to start his career.

Looking ready to be completely blown out early, the Braves fought back from an 11-4 fourth-inning deficit, outscoring the Marlins 7-1 the rest of the way. They got a two-run homer from Freddie Freeman’s in the seventh — his 18th of the season and second in as many games — and a two-run double in the eighth from Adonis Garcia.

Freeman walked to load the bases in the eighth before Nick Swisher’s walk closed the lead to a run.

They couldn’t get the tying run across after reliever Kyle Barraclough struck out Andrelton Simmons and Cameron Maybin grounded out.

“There’s no negatives in this game,” said Freeman, who had three hits. “When you get down 11-4 and come all the way back, come within a run. We never quit. We even had an opportunity to win this game. It was definitely an interesting and fun game to play for the hitters in this game. But there’s no negatives in this game. It was a battle and we kept going all the way to the ninth.”

Weber (0-2) was charged with nine hits, seven runs and one walk in two innings, and left with the bases loaded and none out in the third. Mathis greeted reliever Ryan Kelly by driving his second pitch to left field for a bases-clearing double and a 7-4 lead.

“When you score four in the first inning off Fernandez — he usually doesn’t give up four in two starts” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves lost for the first time in seven games at Marlins Park. “But we were talking about it earlier, when your starters don’t go deep into ballgames. … If you pitch, you have a chance to win the ballgame. And our starter didn’t, we didn’t get deep in the ballgame, and we couldn’t stop the bleeding after we scored four.”

Freeman had three hits and Olivera added three hits and a sacrifice fly for the Braves, who were out-hit 20-16.

Each of the Marlins’ eight starting position players had at least two hits.

“It definitely wasn’t one of my better games,” said Weber, who made his fourth start and saw his ERA jump from 3.26 to 5.91 “I didn’t have anything, really. But, heck of a job by our guys to come back and battle. I mean, we had a good chance to win the ballgame. I thought we were going to do it after Swish walked.”

Fernandez allowed nine hits, and the six earned runs were twice as many earned runs as he’d allowed in any home game — but left with a 12-6 lead in one of the strangest games of the season for the Braves, who’ve had plenty.

The loss was the second in seven games for the Braves, who swept the Phillies at home and won two of three against the Mets to begin a six-game trip, their last of the season before they pull the curtain with a six-game homestand. The 5-1 stretch came after the Braves lost 26 of their previous 30 games.

Fernandez improved to 17-0 in 26 home starts despite the worst performance the hard-throwing Cuban has had at Marlins Park, where he owned an astounding 1.11 ERA and .171 opponents’ average in three seasons before Friday. He was tied with LaMarr Hoyt and John Allen for the most home wins without a loss to start a career since 1900. It’s his record now.

Fernandez has allowed more than two earned runs in only one other home game, when he gave up three in six innings of a July 2 win against the Giants in his season debut, after 14 months of rehab following Tommy John elbow surgery.

On Friday, he gave up three earned runs before recording his second out.

Nick Markakis started the game with a line-drive home run on Fernandez’s third pitch, Markakis turning a 97-mph fastball into just his third homer of the season, including two leadoff homer.

Daniel Castro, Freeman and A.J. Pierzynski followed with singles to load the bases, and Simmons’ fielder’s choice made it a 2-0 lead. (Pierzynski later left with a bruised shoulder and will be reevaluated Saturday, but isn’t expected to play again before Sunday.)

Cameron Maybin followed with an RBI single to center, and Olivera’s sacrifice fly pushed the lead to 4-0 in front of a stunned crowd at Marlins Park. The Braves’ five hits in the first inning were more than Fernandez allowed in 16 of his previous 25 starts at Marlins Park.

“I looked up, I knew I hadn’t got a win yet, and I was thinking, oh, this is it,” Weber said. “Perfect opportunity, we go up 4-zip in the first. And then they get runners on and it’s like, well, I’ve got to bear down now to hopefully – hopefully – get a win. But it didn’t fall my way.”

After throwing 35 pitches in the first inning, Fernandez threw 61 pitches in the next four innings. Only two Braves reached base from the second through fourth innings, and they trailed 11-4 before scoring two runs in the fifth on a Freeman single, Pierzynski walk, Simmons RBI double and Maybin sacrifice fly.

In the interim the Marlins commenced to teeing off on Weber and Braves relievers. They made Sugar Ray Marimon, in particularly, look like he was throwing batting practice in a six-hit, four-run fourth inning that included triples by Christian Yelich and Mathis and a double by Derek Dietrich.

After four innings, the Marlins had an 11-4 lead and 17 hits, four hits shy of their single-game season high. It looked like they might threaten the Marlins franchise record of 25 hits, which also came against the Braves in a 20-1 win against Mike Hampton in Atlanta on July 1, 2003.

Weber, a 25-year-old rookie who began the season in Double-A, posted a 3.26 ERA in his first three starts since being called up from Triple-A. But after being provided a 4-0 lead before his first pitch Friday, he looked like he didn’t know how to handle the unusual scoring largesse.

He hurt his own cause by failing to cover first base in time on a leadoff single by speedster Dee Gordon, then surrendered a Yelich double before former Brave Martin Prado’s single drove in the Marlins’ first run.

Bour was up next and quickly tied the game when he crushed a 2-0 changeup for his 20th homer of the season.

Weber gave up another couple of hits and made a throwing error before the inning was through, but got out without further scoring damage. He made it through the second inning with only a walk, but in the third the Marlins opened the inning with three consecutive hits including a leadoff double by Bour.