Braves swept by Marlins, Miller’s winless streak goes to 24 starts

He made the All-Star team and went 5-1 with a 1.33 ERA in his first eight starts, but his last win was that May 17 shutout at Miami. In 24 starts since, Miller is 0-16 with a 3.77 ERA, including 0-8 with a 5.36 ERA in his past eight.

“He’s human,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Miller, whose ERA inched to 3.10, the first time it’s been above 3.00 all season. “Here’s a guy who’s gone through a lot of adversity this year, and today he had a chance to go out there in the fifth inning (with the score tied) and it just unraveled on him.

“He didn’t help himself a couple of different places, at first base and walking the leadoff hitter that inning, that kind of stuff. But if he believes us and he believes in himself, he’s going to be better off for it. Because nobody should ever go through something like this, but you’ve got to go through it (when faced with it).”

The Braves also saw their best hitter, Freddie Freeman, leave after his third-inning at-bat when pain from a nagging wrist injury worsened. He’ll see the team’s hand specialist on the Braves’ day off Monday and hopes that extra rest will permit him to return to the lineup Tuesday vs. Washington and play all or most of the six-game season-ending homestand. He’s trying to get through the season before he has to cease activities to rest the wrist or possibly have it repaired.

“Before the game I was in the cage and Seitz (hitting coach Kevin Seitzer) asked how it was, and I said I could tell it’s a little bit worse today,” Freeman said. “I still went out there and tried it. It’s kind of a tell-tale sign when I tried to bunt. (He laughed over that third-inning bunt attempt; Freeman does not bunt.) But I’m going to go see Dr. (Gary) Lourie tomorrow and see what he determines. It’s kind of just flared up a little bit more, I don’t know if it’s because it was a quick turnaround, if it just didn’t heal enough like it normally does with a night game.”

Miller’s 16-decision losing streak is the longest in franchise history going back more than a century. And after pitching well and being undermind by majors-worst run support most of the season, lately his own performance has slipped. His final chance to end the winless streak will be, coincidentally, against his former Cardinals team Saturday in the next-to-last-game of the season.

“The biggest thing is I’ve given up so many hits trying to go away to righties or in to lefties and leaving the ball over the middle of the plate,” Miller said. “it happened with the last double I gave up, it got pulled, the one to (Christian) Yelich off the wall. I throw a split and a nasty sinker, then throw a ball right down the middle and he hits a double after two great pitches. So it’s just about finishing at-bats, sticking to the game plan and executing pitches. And at the end of the day you can’t take away from what (the Marlins) are doing — they’re swinging it well, playing as a team, and that’s what you want to see.”

Bour added his second homer of the game and fourth of the series in the seventh inning, when he and Marcell Ozuna hit back-to-back jacks off rookie Dan Winkler to push the lead to 9-4. It was the third consecutive two-run inning for the Marlins, who got an unearned run in the sixth after an error by third baseman Hector Olivera, and two unearned runs in the fifth after a missed-catch error by Miller covering first

Atlanta tied the score twice, in the second and fifth innings, but former Brave Martin Prado’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fifth put the Marlins ahead to stay. The Braves won the season series 10-9, but lost the last seven games after winning the previous six.

The third-place Marlins are a National League-best 16-8 in September, while the fourth-place Braves are 8-17. The Braves had won consecutive series at home against the Phillies and on the road against the NL East-champion Mets before coming to Miami and getting swept by the Marlins for the second time in a one-month span.

Bour’s four homers in three games raised his season total to 23, third-most among major league rookies and four behind Dan Uggla’s Marlins rookie record of 27 in 2006. Bour eclipsed Giancarlo Stanton’s rookie total of 22 homers in 2010, and supplied enough light-tower power in the series to offset the absence of the injured Stanton.

Bour’s first-inning homer gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead, but the Braves answered an inning later on Bourn’s two-run single. A.J. Pierzynski doubled to start the second inning – his seventh hit in 13th career at-bats against Marlins starter Tom Koehler – and Jace Peterson reached on a bunt single. After Andrelton Simmons walked to load the bases, Bourn singled up the middle to tie the score.

After Yelich hit a two-out double in the third inning and scored on Prado’s single to put the Marlins back in front, 3-2, the Braves had a chance to tie in the fourth. But with two on and one out, Miller popped up a bunt that turned into an inning-ending double play.