One night after the Braves racked up 16 hits and 11 runs in a game started by Marlins ace Jose Fernandez, they mustered two hits and one run through seven innings Saturday against Marlins rookie Justin Nicolino.
Just another couple of nights in a strange and disappointing season, the only similarity between the games being the ultimate outcome: a pair of Braves losses.
Justin Bour hit a two-run, two-out homer off Julio Teheran in the first inning Saturday, and the Marlins added four runs in the eighth against reliever Brandon Cunniff in a 6-2 win that clinched the series for the National League East’s third-place team.
The fourth-place Braves will try to avoid a sweep Sunday when Shelby Miller makes another attempt at ending a winless streak that stretches 23 starts back to his last win May 17 at Marlins Park, when he came within an out of throwing a no-hitter.
The Braves have lost two in a row after winning five of their previous six, including series wins at home against the Phillies and on the road against the Mets to start this final road trip. After a day off Monday, they’ll close the season with a six-game homestand against the Nationals and Cardinals.
Teheran (10-8) had another in his recent run of solid starts, allowing six hits, two runs and four walks in six innings.
“(Teheran) pitched good,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “The one pitch to Bour, he got him for a home run. Other than that he battled, gave us a great opportunity. We just didn’t score runs. We scored 11 yesterday against a pretty darn good pitcher, and today we get a guy … not to take anything away from the young left-hander (Nicolino); he repeated his delivery, threw some stuff off-speed, but you would expect us to score a little bit more runs.”
The Braves advanced only one runner into scoring position in seven innings against Nicolino (4-4), who limited them to two hits, one run and three walks while striking out none.
“He did a real good job mixing his pitches up,” said Cameron Maybin, who walked and scored on Nick Markakis’ single in the third inning, and had a leadoff single in the fifth before Ryan Lavarnway grounded into a double play. “(He was) throwing a lot of changeups, I think a little cutter, and just throwing strikes. Pounding the zone. He did a good job controlling his tempo and throwing strikes.”
Trailing 2-1, the Braves loaded the bases against the Marlins bullpen in the eighth before Adonis Garcia struck out to end the inning.
The Marlins scored four (three earned) in the bottom of the inning, all charged to Cunniff, who retired one batter in the inning and gave up three walks (including a bases-loaded walk to Miguel Rojas), and two hits including Casey McGehee’s two-run single. Cunniff had struck out Martin Prado to end the seventh.
“We run him back out there because we feel pretty good that he can maneuver against those lefties and also right-handers,” Gonzalez said. “Walking Bour to lead off the inning … you can’t walk people. I know we walked one on purpose, but you can’t walk people, because sooner or later somebody’s going to put the ball in play, get a base hit, put a crooked number up, and that’s what they did that inning.”
Teheran didn’t have to face Giancarlo Stanton, the Marlins slugger who’s homered twice against Teheran but is on the disabled list. But Bour has done a good Stanton impersonation so far in the series, with five hits and five RBIs, including a three-run homer Friday and his two-run blast Saturday with two out in the first inning.
Bour has 21 homers, third-most among major league rookies.
“I think Julio tried to go in on him in that first at-bat,” Gonzalez said, “and from what I understand the pitch wasn’t terribly bad. It was kind of in on him, but he still got his hands inside. He’s a big, strong boy, and he hit it out of the ballpark.”
