The blowout stretches out the Braves’ NL East lead and secures another series win for them over the Fish.
This quickly became one of those games that you want to forget about and move on from. But when all was said and done, the Marlins showed some encouraging signs, and there are plenty of interesting things to look at in this game. Here is the good, the bad, and the ugly (NOT in chronological order).
The Good
The offense showed up for small stretches in this game and gave us something to look forward to once these Braves leave town. Jesus Sanchez went 3-for-4 with a home run off of left-hander Dylan Lee, his first homer off of a lefty since 2021.
Yuli Gurriel had a two-hit night, and Jean Segura banged a double off the top of the wall in left field early on. Nick Fortes started to heat up as he sent two balls the opposite way en route to a 2-for-4 evening. And with the game out of reach late, Skip sent Xavier Edwards and Peyton Burdick out to rest the starters. Xavier ended up recording his first major league hit, and Peyton Burdick made an insane leaping catch to rob Sean Murphy of a hit.
Devin Smeltzer came on in relief of Braxton Garrett and ended up throwing 3 2⁄3 solid innings, only allowing three more runs and giving the rest of the Marlins bullpen a much-needed break. He even made a slick play defensively to nab Michael Harris II.
With the game even further out of reach in the ninth, Skip sent Jacob Stallings out to the mound for his second outing of the season. He gave up a leadoff single to Kevin Pillar, then got a call from an umpire who wanted to go home soon to get a double play. He then used a sequence of pitches with speeds of 46.3, 44.5, 78.1, and a whopping 84.9 MPH to strike out April NL POTM Ronald Acuña Jr.
The Bad
The Fish made some unfortunate errors on the basepaths that killed multiple rallies and chances to get back in the game. Jazz got caught stealing, and Luis Arraez got doubled off when Jean Segura lined out with him on second base.
The Braves, on the other hand, turned this park into a firing range. They slugged six home runs off Marlins pitchers.
The Ugly
Braxton gets chopped up
Braxton Garrett came into this game with a record of 1-0 and an ERA of 2.45. It jumped up to 5.81 by the time he left the game. Everything unraveled for him in the second inning as he allowed a grand slam to Marcell Ozuna, who entered this game hitting .111. Then he gave up a two-run home run to Michael Harris II, followed by a walk to Acuña, who scored on an RBI double by Ozzie Albies. In that inning, the Braves sent 12 batters to the plate, recording seven runs on seven hits and two walks. Braxton would remain in the game as his pitch count was still manageable, and the Marlins were desperate for some length.
He gave up another home run to Marcell Ozuna to lead off the top of the third inning and would eventually leave the game in the fifth after allowing a monster home run to Ronald Acuna Jr.
His final line: 4.1 IP, 14 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 4 HR, 85/57 P/S.
Only Jordan Yamamoto has allowed more earned runs in a Marlins pitching appearance than Garrett just did (that was the 29-9 game) https://t.co/KQa3lC5ms8
— Fish Stripes (@fishstripes) May 4, 2023
Noah’s Notes and What’s Next
- Yikes—that’s about all I got.
- I’ve gotta start packing cause I’m heading to Chicago and Arizona for the upcoming road trip.
- Alex Krutchik will have your coverage on Thursday. The Braves are calling up rookie lefty Dylan Dodd to face off against Jesús Luzardo.
- I will be back around for some rare coverage on a Friday.
- ‘Til Tmrw!