Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Stanton gets angry about losing streak
MIAMI — In the middle of what became another Miami Marlins loss, Giancarlo Stanton got mad.
Stanton popped up to first, ending the sixth inning of a 3-1 decision against the Atlanta Braves. It was a low-90s fastball, on a 3-1 count, up and over the middle of the plate — an offering he should crush. He hit it hard, but nearly straight up. It was an easy out.
Stanton threw his bat and yelled a word not suitable for a family-friendly newspaper. He returned to his spot in right field for the top of the seventh with a scowl. He kneeled down and punched the neatly manicured grass.
The tantrum, a rare outward showing of frustration during this poor stretch, accomplished little, much like the Marlins lineup. The loss was Miami’s fifth in a row, eighth in nine games and 14th in 17 games. If they lose again on Sunday, Mother’s Day, it’ll be three wins in the past three weeks.
This game was a winnable one. The Braves didn’t get a hit until the fourth, when Freddie Freeman lofted a routine fly ball to left field. Marcell Ozuna, waving off defenders that were not close to him, seemed to have a beat on it until it landed 30 behind him and to his right. Freeman wound up on second
with a double.
That opened the Braves’ only successful inning against right-hander Edinson Volquez, who allowed two runs in six frames. Nick Markakis singled, scoring Freeman, before Dansby Swanson also singled to score Markakis.
Volquez scattered four hits and two walks, striking out five. He showed no obvious ill effects of the right thumb blister that plagued him in his most recent start a week and a half ago, when the friction of skin on ball created a pocket of blood and pus that eventually rubbed raw. It forced him out of one start early and to miss another entirely while on the disabled list.
Volquez bounced back from the rough fourth by using a combined 20 pitches in his final two innings.
Miami struggled against Atlanta righty Julio Teheran, who turned in first scoreless outing since Opening Day. He struck out five Marlins in six innings, allowing three hits and two walks.
One of those hits was a rocket double into the left-field corner by Ozuna, who also brought the Marlins closest to scoring against Teheran when he drove a first-inning pitch to the warning track in left. Matt Kemp caught it, stranding J.T. Realmuto (double off the wall in left-center) on second).
The Marlins’ only run came on another upper-deck homer from Justin Bour, his first against a left-handed pitcher (reliever Eric O’Flaherty) in 135 career plate appearances.
Atlanta added a run in the eighth against Nick Wittgren when Freeman’s two-out double started a rally.
Stanton finished 0 for 4 with a strikeout and a tapper back to the mound in the ninth.