Braves win close one, clinch series in Miami
MIAMI — William Contreras homered twice, and Ronald Acuña Jr. extended his two-season on-base streak to 28 games as the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 4-3 on Saturday night.
Acuña singled, walked twice, stole a base and scored a run. His string began last summer and was interrupted when the star outfielder injured his knee in Miami on July 10, ending his year just before he was due to make his second MLB All-Star Game appearance in four seasons in the majors.
The Braves led 4-2 when closer Kenley Jansen struck out the first two batters in the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Jacob Stallings then walked, Jazz Chisholm Jr. had an infield single and Garrett Cooper hit an RBI double.
Jansen struck out Jorge Soler, the MVP of the World Series for Atlanta last year, to get his 10th save this season.
Kyle Wright (4-2) pitched five scoreless innings of twohit ball. He walked three and struck out six.
Contreras’ home run in the fifth put Atlanta ahead 1-0. He drove a fastball from Elieser Hernández (2-4) over the wall in right-center field for his fifth homer of the year.
Contreras went deep again in the seventh against reliever Cody Poteet with an opposite-field shot to right. It was Contreras’ second multihomer game this season and ended Poteet’s scoreless innings string at 16 1/3.
Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall hit RBI singles in the sixth for Atlanta.
Soler had an RBI double off Atlanta reliever Darren O’Day in the sixth. Brian Anderson added an RBI grounder off A.J. Minter in the eighth that got Miami within 4-2.
Hernández allowed one run and three hits in five innings, walking one batter and striking out five.
The Braves completed a rare double play that not only thwarted a Marlins scoring opportunity but ended the fourth inning.
Jesús Sánchez hit a oneout triple. With a drawn-in infield, Bryan De La Cruz followed with a hard grounder to shortstop Dansby Swanson, who caught Sánchez in a rundown between third base and home plate. Third baseman Austin Riley eventually tagged Sánchez and then found De La Cruz drifting from first. Miami’s second rundown of the play ended in another out as second baseman Ozzie Albies tagged De La Cruz.
Atlanta’s Ian Anderson (3-2, 3.75) and Miami’s Sandy Alcantara (3-2, 2.49) will start the series finale Sunday in a matchup of right-handers.