ATLANTA -- Valente Bellozo was cruising against the Braves’ lineup Friday night, allowing no hits through four innings.
Making just his third Major League start in the Marlins’ 5-3 loss at Truist Park, Bellozo -- recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville on Friday -- had little trouble the first time through the Atlanta order. Until a two-out walk of Whit Merrifield in the bottom of the third, he had faced the minimum, thanks in part to a couple of sharp plays by third baseman Emmanuel Rivera -- including the start of a 5-4-3 double play in the second inning.
“He went right after them,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “A lot of strikes -- elevated at times -- good changeup. He did a really good job. He’s not scared of anybody.”
The 24-year-old right-hander proceeded to strike out one of baseball’s fearsome trios -- Austin Riley, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson -- for another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fourth.
“I think it’s more mental: be aggressive, be attacking the zone,” Bellozo said. “They’re really good hitters, and if they smell fear, they’re going to go for you.”
Orlando Arcia’s leadoff home run to right-center in the bottom of the fifth was the first hit Bellozo allowed. But he bounced right back by inducing consecutive flyouts from Eddie Rosario, Sean Murphy and Jarred Kelenic.
The only other hit off Bellozo came from the first batter he faced the next inning: Merrifield, who sped all the way to third on a flare that landed on the foul line in shallow right field. Schumaker immediately relieved Bellozo -- who threw 66 pitches (42 strikes) -- in favor of Anthony Bender, who struck out two but allowed Merrifield to score on Riley’s groundout to second with one out.
“To think that he didn’t pitch in Triple-A until this year and now he’s going against a really good Braves lineup in August and getting five strong innings is really impressive,” said Schumaker, who also praised catcher Ali Sánchez’s game calling. “There were some hard-hit balls too. Rivera made some really good plays at third base, and we had some balls at the track. But balls were put in play.
“There weren’t too many walks -- maybe a two-out walk -- but overall, he was throwing the ball well. With the triple there and the 3-1 lead, Bender right there was the way to go in the meat of the order, just to keep the 3-1 lead.”
Bellozo, who tossed five scoreless innings in his MLB debut on June 26 before allowing five runs over five innings on July 2, finished his outing on Friday in line for his first career win with just those two hits allowed -- though both scored -- in addition to two walks and five strikeouts.
“I think everything was moving really good, every pitch,” Bellozo said of his stuff. “We were attacking the zone; I think with the lead we did a really good job.”
Early homers by Jonah Bride and Jake Burger supplied three runs for Miami, with Xavier Edwards scoring on Bride’s homer after singling and stealing second in the first.
But the slimmest of leads would not hold, as the Braves rallied for three runs on three hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly against reliever Calvin Faucher in the eighth inning, taking a 5-3 lead and spoiling both Bellozo’s bid for that first win and the Marlins’ hope of a victory.
“We just didn’t add on any runs, so we made it a little more challenging,” Schumaker said. “We don’t add on runs, and a really good lineup has the ability to come back.”