The Braves figured it was too much for rookie-reliever-turned-starter John Gant to face the Mets twice in a week, so they shuffled the rotation to match him up against the Marlins instead.
Gant pitched effectively Wednesday, but the Braves couldn’t back him up. The Braves lost 3-0 to the Marlins to end their season-long winning streak at six games and drop their first game in five trips to Marlins Park this season.
Gant allowed seven hits and three runs with five strikeouts. He gave up five consecutive hits and three runs in the second inning but retired 12 batters in a row before giving up a single with two outs in the sixth.
“It was very encouraging,” Gant said. “I missed too many spots in that second inning, and I paid for it. That’s just the byproduct of what happens up here (in the majors) if you are not throwing it where you need to be throwing it.”
Gant gave the Braves a chance, but they couldn’t solve Marlins left-hander Adam Conley. He held them to four hits over eight scoreless innings as they were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Braves were shut out for the eighth time this season.
Conley is the latest lefty to stifle the Braves. They hit .235 with a .299 on-base percentage against the 26 previous left-handed starters they’d faced this season.
“We do run a lot of lefties (in the lineup) against them,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “This guy, his left-handed splits are actually pretty good going into this. The kid was on today, it looked like to me. We didn’t have a lot of real good swings at him and never threatened a lot.”
The Braves had Erick Aybar at second base with one out in the second inning, but Jace Peterson and Ender Inciarte grounded out. Freddie Freeman led off the fourth with a single before Jeff Francoeur hit into a fielder’s choice and Nick Markakis grounded into a double play. In the sixth Freeman popped out and Francoeur struck out after Conley hit Inciarte with a pitch.
The Braves got consecutive two-out singles from Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski against Marlins closer A.J. Ramos. Chase d’Arnaud followed with a hard line drive to left, but Christian Yelich snagged it for the final out.
In the series opener Tuesday the Braves rallied from a two-run deficit after seven innings to beat the Marlins.
“Chase is up there, and I’m thinking he can pierce a gap or he can hit one out,” Snitker said. “I had a good feeling we can come roaring back again in the ninth. We brought the tying run to the plate, we just couldn’t get the big hit there.”
One bad inning cost Gant against the Marlins (38-34).
Marcell Ozuna hit Gant’s first pitch of the second to deep left-center field, where it settled into the notch in the wall. Ozuna jogged into third for a triple, and then scored when Justin Bour hammered Gant’s 0-1 pitch into the upper deck in right field.
Derek Dietrich followed with a single on a flared hit that dropped just out of the reach of second baseman Peterson. The next hitter, Chris Johnson, hit another single and Jeff Mathis followed with yet another to score Dietrich for a 3-0 Marlins lead.
Ichiro Suzuki hit another single with two outs, but Gant retired Adeiny Hechavarria to begin the streak of 12 consecutive outs. Bour’s single with two outs in the sixth ended the run, and Snitker replaced Gant after he’d thrown 81 pitches.
Gant has made three turns in the rotation since Williams Perez went on the disabled list. He made his first career start against the Cubs and allowed two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings. Gant limited the Mets to two hits and a run in 6 2/3 innings on Friday for his first win.
“I feel very comfortable,” Gant said. “I feel like I’m sticking to a routine well. I worked on some mechanical things this week, and I think I improved.”
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