MIAMI – Some day the Marlins might decide to pitch around Evan Gattis regardless of the situation, but until they do the Braves will always feel good about their chances when El Oso Blanco — "the White bear" — steps to the plate in a tie game against the Fish.
Gattis hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning Sunday against closer Steve Cishek to lift the Braves to a 4-2 win, completing a series sweep at Marlins Park against a Miami team that had moved into a first-place tie in the National League East before the Braves arrived Friday.
“It’s nice to take three games,” said Gattis, whose leads major league catchers with 11 home runs, including three in 25 at-bats against the Marlins. “We came in tied for first with them. That’s a good ballclub, and it’s good to get three wins.”
The first homer allowed by Cishek in 2014 was the sixth in 63 career at-bats against the Marlins for Gattis, who has hit .333 with 20 RBIs in 18 games against them in his first two seasons.
“Boy, that’s a big home run there,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves won three in Miami after losing four in a row against Boston to start the week. “I mean, in this ballpark off that reliever, that doesn’t happen very often.”
With Braves closer Craig Kimbrel unavailable after pitching three consecutive games, and the Braves also hoping to avoid using others who’ve worked a lot including David Carpenter, they turned to prospect Shae Simmons to pitch the ninth inning in a save situation in his second day in the big leagues.
He gave up a pair of singles and a walk but got a double-play grounder en route to his first save — a day after striking out the only batter he faced for a key out in Saturday’s win in his debut.
“He was in the high-pressure situation yesterday,” Gattis said of Simmons, who struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia with two runners on base to end the eighth inning Saturday in what was a one-run game at the time. “I think that helps. I think that’s the best way you can come in, baptism by fire or whatever.”
It was a whirlwind weekend for Simmons, who arrived from Double-A Mississippi Saturday and said the two days in Miami were “kind of surreal. I feel like it hasn’t happened, like I wasn’t even out there. But now that it’s over with, I can kind of ease my mind. I got through my first couple of appearances OK, so hopefully I can just continue to work and get better from here.”
Marcell Ozuna, who hit a two-run homer off Braves starter Aaron Harang in the second inning, led off the ninth with a single before Simmons induced a 6-4-3 double-play grounder from Adeiny Hechavarria. Jeff Matthis walked and Reed Johnson hit a pinch-hit single through the left side before pitching coach Roger McDowell came out to chat with Simmons.
“He just wanted me to relax and kind of regroup,” Simmons said. “Just focus on my next couple of pitches and try to work out of it. He told me (if you) fall behind hitters they’re going to be able to sit back and pick out their own pitches.”
Simmons got Christian Yelich on a fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop Andrelton Simmons to end the game.
Harang was drastically better Sunday than the last time he pitched at Marlins Park, allowing two runs, five hits and four walks in 6-2/3 innings, after being scorched for nine runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings of a 9-3 loss on April 30.
But Miami starter Nathan Eovaldi was almost as dominant as he usually is against the Braves, limiting them to six hits and two runs in eight innings. He has a 1.86 ERA in nine career starts against Atlanta. And so it was left to the bullpens.
The Braves got even after being swept by the Marlins in Miami a month ago, and more importantly righted the ship after playing some of their worst baseball while losing four in a row to the Red Sox, two at home and two in Boston.
“It (showed) great character of our club,” Gonzalez said. “We didn’t play well against Boston whether it was home or on the road, and we lose that tough one (Thursday) night and then get here at 3:30, 4 in in the morning. And we came out and probably played about as good a series as we’ve played in a while. I’m really proud of our club.”
Cishek had allowed only one run and a .182 opponents’ batting average in 12 home appearances before Freddie Freeman led off the ninth with a single against the sidearmer, the first baseman’s second hit in 36 at-bats against the Marlins.
Gattis was up next and took two sliders for balls before taking a mighty cut at a 2-and-0 sinker and launching it to the bottom portion of a gaudy pop-art “home run sculpture” beyond the center-field fence.
“I haven’t faced him; I’m pretty sure I haven’t faced him ever,” said Gattis, who actually had one previous plate appearance against Cishek, and is now 2-for-2 against him. “You know, I got a pitch I could handle. If he throws those first two pitches for strikes it might be a different story. But yeah, I just got a pitch I could handle.”
Ozuna’s homer in the second inning gave Marlins a 2-0 lead, but the Braves answered with two runs in the third against Eovaldi. Tommy La Stella and Andrelton Simmons had consecutive singles to start the inning. After Harang’s sacrifice bunt, Jason Heyward singled to shallow center to cut the lead in half.
B.J. Upton followed with a ground ball that had all the makings of an inning-ending double play, until second baseman Derek Dietrich stepped on second for the first out and bounced a throw past first baseman Garrett Jones, giving Upton a fielder’s choice and an RBI as Simmons scored the tying run.
Rookie second baseman La Stella and Heyward had two hits apiece for the Braves. La Stella is 6-f0r-15 (.400) with a walk and no strikeouts in his first five major league games since being called up at the start of the road trip.
Heyward has hit safely in 18 of his past 20 games, hitting .329 with nine RBIs and nearly a .400 on-base percentage in that span.
Having completed a 3-2 road trip, the Braves are off Monday and home for only two games against Seattle before starting another seven-game trip to Arizona and Colorado on Friday in Phoenix.
“We go into the off day tomorrow feeling pretty good,” Gonzalez said. “I like the way our club bounced back.”
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