Inciarte’s walk puts Braves past Marlins
ATLANTA — Ender Inciarte’s bases-loaded walk from Kyle Barraclough with two outs in the ninth inning lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 6-5 victory over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Barraclough threw four straight balls to Inciarte. While Barraclough began his slow walk off the field, Inciarte was swarmed by his teammates in an impromptu celebration near first base.
It was the Braves’ second ninth-inning win in the series.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 54th homer for Miami. Johan Camargo hit a two-run homer for Atlanta.
The loss by Miami reduced the Washington Nationals’ magic number to clinch the NL East to two. The Marlins have lost six of seven games.
Kurt Suzuki led off the ninth with a single up the middle off Barraclough (5-2). Pinch-runner Micah Johnson moved to second base on Barraclough’s wild pitch to Dansby Swanson, who walked. The runners advanced on Camargo’s sacrifice.
The Marlins’ five-infielder alignment paid off when Suzuki was thrown out at the plate on Lane Adams’ grounder to shortstop Miguel Rojas. Barraclough walked Nick Markakis to load the bases, setting up Inciarte’s at-bat.
Arodys Vizcaino (4-3) pitched a scoreless ninth.
The Braves, who trailed 4-0 in the fourth, pulled even at 5-5 in the sixth when Freddie Freeman’s single off Dustin McGowan drove in Jace Peterson, who had a pinch-hit single.
After being given a day off on Friday, the recharged Stanton hit the homer off rookie left-hander Max Fried in the first inning. The ball would have traveled 456 feet unimpeded, according to MLB Statcast, and landed deep into the left-center seats at SunTrust Park.
It wasn’t Stanton’s longest homer at the Braves’ new stadium. MLB Statcast measured his first homer at the park, on Aug. 4, at 477 feet. He has six homers against the Braves this season.
Fried, making his second start in his sixth appearance, trailed 1-0 on Stanton’s homer before giving up three runs on four hits in the fourth. J.T. Realmuto’s triple drove in Marcell Ozuna. Brian Anderson and Dee Gordon had run-scoring singles.
Miami left-hander Adam Conley gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings.
Braves left fielder Matt Kemp made a diving catch of Ozuna’s liner and then threw to second base to complete a double play in the seventh. Christian Yelich, who led off with a double, was running toward third when it appeared the line drive by Ozuna would fall safely. Yelich was almost at home plate when the double play was completed.
The Braves said almost 7,500 evacuees from Hurricane Irma attended the game free of charge after approximately 2,700 free tickets were given to evacuees for Friday night’s game. During the fourgame series, the Braves are giving a complimentary ticket to anyone showing a valid Florida ID. The offer also is open to residents of Georgia and South Carolina counties under mandatory evacuation orders.