Braves homer to rally, sink Fish with small ball

April 13th, 2017

MIAMI -- blistered a pair of two-run home runs, while matched the power with a two-homer game of his own. But on a night when the Marlins and Braves combined for five home runs, it was a wild pitch and Tyler Flowers' two-out single in the ninth that rallied Atlanta to a 5-4 win and a two-game split with Miami on Wednesday at Marlins Park.
"Hopefully, this is what is going to get us going," Inciarte said after the Braves ended this 2-6 road trip in victorious fashion. "Everybody knows we have a really good team. Everybody knows we can hit and score runs. If we can stay together with our pitching and offense, we're going to win a lot of games. Starting today, from now on, we're going to start winning some ballgames."
Stanton, who hadn't gone deep in his first 28 at-bats of the season, belted two home runs off , but Inciarte's second shot -- in the eighth inning off -- pulled the Braves even at 4.

In the ninth, Flowers singled off A.J. Ramos after a wild pitch by the Miami closer allowed to advance to second. Phillips scored without a play on Flowers' decisive single.

"Maybe I was trying to keep Phillips too close to the bag," Ramos said. "Maybe I was worrying about him too much. I was changing my looks, changing my times to the plate. The real issue was getting Flowers. I left a ball up and he hit it."
The Braves also displayed some power, primarily from Inciarte, who connected on a two-run homer in the third inning off Marlins starter Tom Koehler. Freddie Freeman added a solo shot to open the fourth.

"Anytime you get two homers from 'G,' you expect to win that game," Koehler said. "I've just got to do a better job of keeping the ball in the ballpark. All the runs I've given up so far this year have come on home runs."
The fourth inning also featured a bizarre 27-minute delay after a power surge dimmed several outfield light strips.

"I'm not sure what happened," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Maybe there was weather outside, I don't know."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Singles hitter no more: A couple of days ago in New York, Stanton racked up a couple of opposite-field base hits. The slugger joked afterward, "No more homers." Entering Wednesday night, the three-time All-Star had only one extra-base hit, a double at Washington on Opening Day. Stanton put an abrupt end to his "homer drought" in his 19th career multi-homer game. The second one was a thunderous two-run shot into the Clevelander, located behind the wall in left field. A fan jumped into the pool for the blast that put the Marlins in front, 4-3.

"Continue to trust the approach of the process," Stanton said. "You're not going to be good every night. But you can have productive at-bats. Even a crummy day like yesterday [when Stanton went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts], you don't swing at balls in the dirt or above your head and get three strikeouts out of it."
Per Statcast™, Stanton's first home run traveled a projected 397 feet with a 110.1-mph exit velocity. The second blast projected at 396 feet and 116 mph, and it took just 3.7 seconds to leave the park, which tied with Kansas City's as the fifth-fastest hang time on a homer this year.

Inciarte matches might with Stanton: Inciarte may have just 15 career homers, compared to Stanton's 210. But both of Inciarte's blasts were just as significant on Wednesday night. It also was his second career multi-homer game, the first coming on Sept. 27, 2015. Atlanta's leadoff hitter, normally a table setter, had just three homers in 2016.
"It was definitely good to see him get rolling and get his confidence up," Flowers said. "Hopefully, he will for the rest of the season, because he does a lot for us there at the top [of the lineup] by getting on base and occasionally hitting multi-homers."

QUOTABLE
"It wasn't that hard line drive somewhere. I don't even know what happened. It was foul. I was standing there, and then it was fair. I was like, 'Run as fast as I can.' It's hard to forget that one." -- Marlins rookie , on his first MLB hit, which was a check-swing dribbler

"The bullpen came in and did a tremendous job. They came in and picked me up. Every time I don't go more than six or seven innings, for me, I didn't get the job done. They picked me up. They played great defense behind me. Ender was great hitting and the bullpen was awesome." -- Garcia, who allowed four runs over five innings and then saw the bullpen provide four hitless and scoreless innings.

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
Stanton has homered and walked more frequently than he has recorded an out against Garcia. The Miami slugger is 7-for-10 with three home runs and four walks in 14 career plate appearances against the Atlanta southpaw.
INSTANT REPLAY
The Braves challenged and received a quick overturn on what was ruled a leadoff infield single by Dee Gordon in the first inning. Gordon chopped a grounder that Garcia waited to come down, and the pitcher tossed to first where Freeman scooped. After the safe call was made, Freeman immediately signaled to the bench to challenge. In 44 seconds, the call was overturned.

Dansby Swanson followed Inciarte's game-tying homer with a single that brought Freeman to the plate with one out in the eighth. But Swanson was thrown out attempting to steal second on the back end of a Freeman strikeout. The Braves challenged the ruling, but the call stood after conclusive evidence was not found within a two-minute, 24-second review.

WHAT'S NEXT
Braves: will draw the honor of starting SunTrust Park's first official game on Friday night, when the Braves open a four-game set against the Padres. Teheran has made four consecutive Opening Day starts, but this will mark just the second time he's started a home opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. ET.
Marlins: Four days after wrapping up a series at Citi Field, the Marlins welcome the Mets to Marlins Park on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET for the opener of a four-game series. Miami is going with left-hander (1-0, 1.50), who beat the Mets last week. (0-1, 4.50) goes for New York.
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