Sean Newcomb wasn’t as dominant as he’s been lately, but he was plenty good enough Saturday on a night when the Braves offense finally gave the home fans a glimpse of what they’ve been doing so frequently on the road.
The Braves scored four runs without an extra-base hit in the fifth inning, then got late-innings home runs from Kurt Suzuki and Freddie Freeman to pull away to an 8-1 win over the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park.
Newcomb (5-1) had his scoreless-innings streak snapped at 21 but pitched six innings of four-hit, one-run ball to win his fourth consecutive start and fifth consecutive decision.
It was only the second home win in the past seven home games for the Braves, who’ve gone 13-2 in that same span on the road since the April 25 arrival of outfield phenom Ronald Acuna.
Marlins pitcher Jose Urina gave up five hits and four runs in six innings and his team remained winless (0-10) in his starts this season.
Newcomb is 4-0 with a 0.36 ERA in his past four starts, allowing just nine hits and one run in 25 innings with 25 strikeouts and 10 walks. He had allowed two hits or fewer in at least six scoreless innings in each of his previous three starts, the first pitcher in more than a century of Braves franchise history to do that.
After giving up five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in an April 2 loss to the Nationals in his season debut, Newcomb is 5-0 with a 1.68 ERA in his past eight starts, allowing two or fewer earned runs in seven of those outings and pitching at least six innings in each of the past six.
Newcomb had his scoreless-innings streak stopped when he gave up a run in the second inning on a Justin Bour leadoff walk and Cameron Maybin double followed by two ground-outs.
The big left-hander had not allowed a run in his previous three starts and the scoreless streak was the longest by a Brave since Julio Teheran’s 23-inning streak in June 2016. It was barely halfway to the Atlanta franchise record, however: Greg Maddux had a streak of 39 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings in September 2000.
Urina recorded 12 outs in the first 12 batters faced, including a caught-stealing and double-play grounder, before the Braves broke through in the fifth. They used four singles and two bunts to score four runs in the inning, beginning with Nick Markakis’ leadoff single.
Two batters later, Ender Inciarte reached on an infield single and Markakis went to third on a throwing error on the play. Johan Camargo followed with an RBI single before Dansby Swanson executed a squeeze bunt that scored Inciarte.
With two outs, Ozzie Albies singled to right field to drive in two more runs for a 4-1 lead.
It was a big night for Camargo, who also had an RBI double in the seventh inning. He started at third base with the return of Swanson at shortstop after a two-week stint on the disabled list for left-wrist inflammation.
Suzuki led off the seventh inning with his sixth home run and Freeman’s ninth homer was a towering two-run drive in the eighth inning.
