The Braves turned to Ervin Santana Thursday night, looking for a return to normalcy.
After the Braves were blown out in back-to-back losses to the Marlins, their worst two pitching performances of the year, Santana delivered a quality start to calm the nerves. But the Braves still couldn’t salvage the series.
The Marlins rallied with a two-run seventh off rookie reliever Ian Thomas and David Carpenter, to complete a three-game sweep of the Braves with a 5-4 win.
A Braves’ bases-loaded rally in the eighth came up short and they finished the game 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. All four of the Braves’ runs came via home run – a three-run shot from B.J. Upton and a solo Evan Gattis home run.
“We had some opportunities,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I liked the way these guys battled in the eighth inning and now we go out there tomorrow and stop this losing streak.”
The Braves were swept for the first time this season and for the first time since dropping three in a row in Philadelphia Sept. 6-8. They followed that series by winning three of four at Marlins Park. But this trip wasn’t nearly as fruitful.
The sweep was a first for the Marlins against the Braves in Miami since 2006, when the Marlins won three in a row June 13-15. This season, the Marlins are 12-4 at home compared to only 2-10 on the road.
“They kicked our butts the first couple nights,” said Chris Johnson, who went 3-for-3 with a walk but never advanced past second base. “They came up with timely hitting tonight and grinded one out. We’ll just have to regroup and go home and just kind of get back in it.”
After the Braves got pounded for 18 runs on 28 hits in the first two losses, it was a couple of bloop hits off Thomas and a single to beat the shift by Giancarlo Stanton off Carpenter that did the Braves in this time.
“When (they’re) going good, those things fall in, and when you’re not going good, those things get through,” Gonzalez said. “Stanton hits a ground ball that could have been a double play, but we had him shifted over. During the course of the first couple games of the series, he hit it right to (second baseman) Danny (Uggla) a couple times.”
Justin Upton made a diving attempt at Christian Yelich’s bloop up the left field line but couldn’t get there, putting put runners at first and second off Thomas and leaving work for Carpenter.
“Just got to stay ahead, that’s the main thing,” said Thomas. “I fell behind a couple guys and come to a 3-2 count, they’re in swing mode, and they’re going to put the ball in play.”
The Braves lost for the first time in five starts by Santana, who gave up three runs in six innings, including a Garrett Jones home run in the second, and left with a 4-3 lead.
“In the first inning, that was not me right there,” Santana said. “But after that, the third (inning) on, everything was better. I had a better feel for my offspeed and my fastball.”
Gattis tried to offer a return to normalcy in his own unique way, hitting a solo home run into the visiting bullpen in left in the sixth inning to put the Braves ahead 4-3. Gattis had driven in the go-ahead runs in the Braves’ two victories against the Marlins last week at Turner Field, including the first walk-off home run of his career.
Gattis now has five home runs in 16 games for his career against the Marlins.
The Braves rallied again in the eighth, loading the bases on a leadoff double by Justin Upton and a couple of walks in extended at-bats by Johnson and Andrelton Simmons. But Marlins manager Mike Redmond’s move to bring in closer Steve Cishek with two outs in the eighth paid off. After the walk to Simmons, Cishek got pinch-hitting Ramiro Pena to strike out to leave the bases loaded.
Cishek pitched a perfect ninth to record his 35th save in his last 36 opportunities.
“Cishek is pretty tough,” Johnson said. “Those are hard at-bats with a guy on third base and both of the bases open. The pitcher can try and make that perfect pitch, if not they just put you on.”
After scoring just three runs in the first two games of this series, B.J. Upton got the Braves three runs on one swing in the second inning. He sent a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for his second home run. And he made an overturned call at first base all the bigger.
Jason Heyward had been called out on a head-first slide at first base, trying to beat out an infield chopper. Upon replay review, umpires saw that pitcher Henderson Alvarez didn’t have the ball in his glove - it was in his right hand – when he attempted to tag Heyward with his glove. Two pitches later, the Braves led 3-2 on Upton’s homer.
Santana had singled to lead off the third inning, helping his cause with his third hit in only 12 at-bats since joining the National League.
