MIAMI -- Nearly every day for more than two weeks, Brian Anderson made the 180-mile round-trip commute from his apartment in Edgewater to Jupiter to rehab his left shoulder sprain.

Anderson’s drive was shorter on Friday, as he homered in his first at-bat off the injured list in the Marlins’ 4-3 loss to the Braves at loanDepot park. Serving as the club’s right fielder, Anderson also singled and walked, though he struck out in the ninth inning while representing the game-winning run.

“I think hitting is a lot of feel and timing, and I was able to get a good feel down there working with those guys,” said Anderson, who went deep twice on Tuesday for Triple-A Jacksonville.

“Just trying to carry it over, trying to put good swings on good pitches to hit and just trying to put good at-bats together one at a time.”

Once considered an extension candidate, the 29-year-old Anderson has missed most of the past two seasons due to shoulder issues. He has been near league average with a 99 OPS+ despite playing in just 121 games in that span. Anderson wasted no time making an impact on Friday, with a second-inning leadoff shot off a 2-2 middle-middle cutter from Jake Odorizzi.

The plan is for Anderson to split time at third base and the corner-outfield spots, particularly right field, to prevent him from diving on his left shoulder too much. That’s how he aggravated it again on July 13.

Anderson is most comfortable in right, where he can showcase his strong arm, but he will also see time in left because Avisaíl García should return from a left hamstring strain at some point. Anderson underwent surgery last September for the subluxation in his left shoulder, and he believes it has helped him come back quicker.

“Anytime you miss time, it's going to be tough,” said Anderson, who will be in his final year of arbitration eligibility in 2023. “I think for me, it's just a matter of going out there and just staying within myself and not trying to make up for lost time out there. Just go out there and have fun and play the game hard and just see what happens. If you go in there and try to make up for lost time, you're going to go in there and try to do a little bit too much. I just want to be around the guys, want to be here and try to help the team win some games.”

Jon Berti also returned from the IL in the series opener against the playoff-hopeful Braves, going 2-for-5 and starting at second base. Manager Don Mattingly called Berti, MLB’s stolen base leader at 28, the club’s sparkplug. Miami missed his speed and ability to create havoc toward the top of a rather station-to-station lineup.

But Berti, who sustained a left groin strain on July 14, might have cost the Marlins a run in the seventh with his aggressiveness. After leading off the inning with a double that he thought he hit over the left-center-field wall, Berti was caught trying to steal third base with no outs. A replay review ruled the call stood.

“It's just constantly in my mind about playing the situation -- who's up, what's the count, who's on deck, situation in the game, all that, what the pitcher is looking like to home,” Berti said. “Just felt like it was a position where I could get to third, which increases my chances of scoring quite a bit. But obviously, that didn't work out, and [I’ve] just got to move on.”

Though Miami scored three runs or fewer for the 12th straight game, the club had more traffic on the basepaths, with 13 runners stranded (1-for-14 RISP). As the Marlins draw closer to full strength, manager Don Mattingly can mix and match veterans and rookies. Players like Charles Leblanc, who had started 12 consecutive games to begin his MLB career, can get a day.

Mattingly envisions Berti playing five days a week, and he should see some time in center with Jesús Sánchez in the Minors. Berti has appeared at the position three times in 2022 and 37 games for his career.

“I think it has to start there,” Mattingly said. “We gave ourselves a lot of chances today. It's probably the best offensively we've swung the bats in a little bit. It's nice to kind of get those guys in the lineup, and Peyton [Burdick] kind of looks like he's getting going, Jacob [Stallings] swung the bat good tonight. A lot of good things happened. We just obviously didn't get the runs we needed.”