McCann comes through as Braves outlast rain, Marlins

Brian McCann #16 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with his teammates after hitting a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th to defeat the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on July 05, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Credit: Logan Riely

Credit: Logan Riely

Brian McCann #16 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with his teammates after hitting a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th to defeat the Miami Marlins at SunTrust Park on July 05, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Freddie Freeman had a good feeling when he saw teammate Brian McCann walk to the plate in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and the game on the line.

“You just know he’s going to get a hit in that situation,” Freeman said. “I thought he was going to hit a grand slam, to be honest.”

McCann hit the first pitch he saw from rookie reliever Jose Quijada into center field and Freeman, who led off the inning with a double, cantered homer with the run. It gave the Braves a 1-0 win over the Miami Marlins late Friday night in the opener of the three-game series.

McCann was doused with a bucket of water by his excited teammates, eager to celebrate the ninth walkoff RBI of his career. It was the second walkoff hit of the season for the former Baby Brave, who said the euphoria of the situation never grows old.

“A win like this to start a series off with the way our pitchers threw,” McCann said. “This team wants to win. We show up.”

And they seem to delight in taking down the Marlins. The Braves are 9-1 against Miami in 2019 and have won 14 of the last 15 meetings between the clubs at SunTrust Park. The Braves have beaten the Marlins eight times in their last at-bat since moving to Cobb County.

The game -- which included a 2 hour and 28 minute rain delay -- was quite a departure from the last two, when the Braves piled up nine home runs and 21 runs in wins over Philadelphia.

“That’s how you make it to the playoffs,” Freeman said. “You’re not going to win every game scoring 12 runs, nine runs. You’re going to win games by one run. Good teams win games by one run.”

Luke Jackson (4-2) got the win with a scoreless ninth. He allowed a leadoff double to Neil Walker, but retired the next two batters, two on strikeouts. He finished the team’s fifth shutout.

The other piece of good news for the Braves was a return to form for Julio Teheran, who had wandered in the wilderness in his last three starts (15 runs in 11 1/3 innings) after putting together eight straight excellent starts.

The much-needed rebound came against Teheran’s favorite punching bag. The Marlins have yet to score against the Colombian in three starts this season. On Friday he threw six shutout innings, allowing five hits, two walks and six strikeouts.

“I think my fastball command was better,” Teheran said. “Today I was throwing it for strikes and making the hitters think about it.”

Teheran pitched out of trouble in the first and third innings before he began to settle down. The ability to mix the fastball and slider kept the Miami batters off stride and Teheran retired nine straight.

The gut-check moment for Teheran came in the sixth. After the first two batters fanned, Walker worked a nine-pitch walk and Starlin Castro roped a double just inside the third-base line. After a visit from pitching coach Rick Kranitz and a chance to reset, Teheran retired Jorge Alfaro on a fly ball to center field.

“He’s reliable,” Snitker said. “You don’t have to worry about where he’s at. He’s going to be prepared, be ready and going to show up and make his start. He’s done it for years. He works, he competes, he cares. It was good to see tonight.”

But the Atlanta bats could do nothing against Miami rookie Jordan Yamamoto. The Braves didn’t their first hit off the Hawaiian hotshot until McCann lined a two-out single to center field in the fifth inning.

The Braves had their best chance against Yamamoto in the sixth. Pinch-hitter Matt Joyce waked and Ronald Acuna Jr. singled. But the threat was short-circuited when Ozzie Albies hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Garrett Cooper, who started a double play. After Freeman was intentionally walked, Yamamoto ended the inning by making a nice play on Josh Donaldson’s sharp grounder back to the mound.