Lopez’s sloppy first inning hobbles Marlins
For his 32nd birthday, Drew Smyly got the following: an early lead, a big day from Austin Riley and some nifty defense from Ehire Adrianza.
And the Atlanta Brave sheldon for a needed win.
Riley homered and drove in three runs, Smyly allowed two runs over five innings and the Braves snapped a four-game slide by beating the Miami Marlins 6-4 on Sunday.
“Anytime you get a win, it’s a good feeling,” Smyly said. “They’re not easy. They just don’t hand them out to teams. They’re always a grind . ... This team has had a lot of ups and downs, but we know what we’re capable of doing.”
Riley reached base five times, going 3 for 3 with a walk and getting hit by a pitch. Ender Inciarte also homered for Atlanta, his solo shot coming one inning after he entered the game as an injury replacement for Ronald Acuña Jr., who departed with what the Braves said was right pectoral soreness.
“I don’t see this being lingering,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
Starling Marte drove in three runs for the Marlins, who were bidding for their first sweep of Atlanta since 2016. Right-hander Pablo López (2-4) went only three innings, giving up four runs and six hits and seeing his ERA rise from 2.76 to 3.12.
“The Braves had a plan,” López said, “and they executed it really well.”
Smyly (3-3) almost got his first career RBI, in his 43rd plate appearance. He lofted a liner to center with one out in the fifth; Marte caught it, then fired home — and even after an awkward skip off the grass, Miami catcher Jorge Alfaro handled the throw and tagged out Adrianza to end the inning.
Adrianza made up for that a half-inning later.
The Marlins got two runs in the fifth off Smyly, with Marte getting an RBI single and later scoring on a wild pitch. But Smyly escaped the inning and became eligible for the birthday win when Adrianza fielded a high chopper to shortstop off the bat of Miami’s Corey Dickerson and flipped it from his glove to first in time for the third out.
Miami got a two-run single from Marte in the seventh, and he kept the Marlins within two runs with a sensational running grab to save a run and retire Kevan Smith to end the Atlanta ninth.
“He tried to keep us in the game today,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of Marte.
But Will Smith retired the Marlins in the ninth in order, getting his 12th save and ending a three-hour, 45-minute contest.
The Braves had a total of three first-inning runs in their last 10 games. They got three on Sunday alone; Acuña Jr. extended the longest active on-base streak in the majors to 22 games with a bloop single to left to open the game, and Riley had the big hit with a two-run single.