ATLANTA -- With victories hard to come by in the early going for the Marlins, every play is magnified. Such was the case in Monday night’s 3-0 loss to the Braves at Truist Park.

Here are two moments that mattered from the series-opening defeat:

Killing momentum
In Atlanta right-hander Bryce Elder’s season debut, Miami welcomed him with three hits on six pitches to open the ballgame. But the Marlins would have nothing to show for it, as Luis Arraez was easily thrown out at home plate for the first out of the inning on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s double off the right-center wall.

On the play, Arraez received a stop sign from third-base coach Griffin Benedict rounding third, but trail runner Bryan De La Cruz wasn’t paying attention and was already approaching third. With Chisholm at second, Arraez was forced to go home.

According to manager Skip Schumaker, with no outs and runners on first and second, Arraez did what he was supposed to: Be close enough to tag up at second to get to third on a ball that would’ve been a home run in 12 Major League ballparks. If De La Cruz keeps his head up to see Benedict holding Arraez, the Marlins would’ve had nobody out and the bases loaded.

It marked the first out at home for the Marlins this season; they were the only Major League club to not have one in 2024. It was Miami’s fourth out on the basepaths, overall, tied for second fewest in MLB.

With runners at second and third and one out, Josh Bell and Jesús Sánchez each flied out.

“The trail runner has to keep his head on a swivel, make sure that the third-base coach is sending him,” Schumaker said. “He wasn't, and just kind of ran ourselves into the ground there and didn't push anything across. That was kind of a tough one. That inning, who knows what would've happened? We had the right guys coming up after him and just couldn't do anything after.”

Tough to navigate
Two walks came around to score the second time through the order against Ryan Weathers, who needed 25 pitches in the decisive three-run fourth.

From March 28-April 12, when the Marlins went 2-12, their starting pitchers had the highest BB/9 rate (5.76), were tied for the worst WAR (0.1) and had the third-worst FIP (5.08). From April 13 to Sunday, when Miami went 4-5, its BB/9 (2.45) was 10th lowest, its WAR (1.5) was tied for third highest and its FIP (2.68) was fourth best.

After walking Marcell Ozuna with one out, Weathers surrendered a two-run homer to Travis d’Arnaud, who has gone deep five times since Friday, to break a scoreless deadlock. Adam Duvall followed with a walk and scored on David Fletcher’s RBI single.

“He had really good fastball command, was getting in on the righties, which was a big part of our game plan,” said catcher Nick Fortes, who was sporting a cut near his left temple on a first-inning backswing by Ozuna. “His changeup looked great, and he was just on the attack. So he just made the one mistake to d'Arnaud, and that's just how it happens sometimes.”

The Braves’ lineup is the deepest in the Majors. Ozuna leads the Majors in homers, and the batter behind him, d’Arnaud, is on a tear. The batter behind d’Arnaud, Duvall, is no slouch, either. Weathers began to psych himself out, nibbling instead of attacking the zone, fighting his mechanics and rushing his pitches.

“Hottest guy in their lineup got me tonight,” Weathers said. “In my pregame notes, I wasn't going to let him beat us tonight, and ultimately, one swing kind of dictated the game. But in that situation, if I don't walk the guy in front of him, it turns into a solo shot. It's a lot different than two runs on the board. So [I’ve] got to do my job in getting the first guy. He hit a good first pitch. Tip my hat to him. He's a really good hitter.

“Had the kind of funky hit down the first baseline and got that other run in. Other than that, I felt really in control tonight. Punchouts weren't there, but I was getting to two strikes and getting really weak contact [the] whole night, and they were on the ground. So [I’ve] just got to keep rolling.”