Braves building momentum as they take 4 of 5 from hot Marlins squad

ATLANTA -- It didn’t seem likely that the struggling Braves would win four out of five games against a red-hot Marlins team that entered the long series having won 10 of its past 14 games.

Atlanta did exactly that, though, as the club came from behind in three of its four wins, including Sunday afternoon’s 7-1 victory over Miami to cap the series at Truist Park.

It was a refreshing change of fortune for a Braves team that was swept by the best-in-baseball Brewers to begin the homestand.

“[The Marlins] had been playing really [well] coming in here,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It was a lot like the [Brewers] that just left before them. They were kind of worrisome when they come in. We started swinging the bats.”

Atlanta won the first game of the series, 8-6, on Thursday after falling behind 6-2, then swept Saturday’s doubleheader -- tallying a dominant 7-1 victory in Game 1 and overcoming a 4-0 deficit to win Game 2, 8-6.

In the series finale, the Braves fell behind 1-0 in the second inning but scored seven unanswered runs.

The big blow came from the Big Bear. Marcell Ozuna gave Atlanta three big insurance runs with a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning. Ozuna continued to torment Miami with his fourth home run of the series. He’s slashing .314/.457/.829 over his past 12 games dating back to July 28, and has hit .333/.368/.833 in nine games against the Marlins this season.

“He’s getting his swing off,” Snitker said. “I looked at him smoke that 97 mph fastball [Saturday] night. He’d been having trouble getting his swing off.”

Matt Olson got the scoring going Sunday as he hit a solo home run to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. It was Olson’s first home run since July 20, a 19-game homerless streak that was his longest since his career-worst 26-game drought from April 8 to May 8, 2024.

“It was a good series for us,” Olson said. “The pitching has been good for us for a while now, and being able to put up some run support for them is good. [There were] a few games that were tight towards the sixth or seventh, and we kind of busted them open a little bit. Obviously, [Ozuna] with the three-run homer today. We’re just trying to keep that rolling.”

The Braves have struggled all season with getting hits with runners in scoring position, but Atlanta was 14-for-38 with runners in scoring position against Miami in the series.

“[We got] some big hits,” Snitker said. “Just to see the add-on runs late, which we hadn’t been seeing, and some big innings, which we had a hard time with for a long time, that’s really good to see. We’ve still got a bunch of baseball to play. Hopefully we can get on our run. We haven’t done that yet. Hopefully we can do that.”

Prior to this series, the Braves hadn’t won two in a row since July 11-12 against the Cardinals. The club has its first three-game winning streak since sweeping the Mets from June 17-19, and it marks the first time the Braves have won four out of five games since June 17-21.

Atlanta’s bullpen was nearly untouchable in the series. Braves relievers allowed two earned runs on 10 hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch with 17 strikeouts over 17 innings in the five games.

“Those guys are like any other players; when they get guys out, they get confidence,” Snitker said. “When they get multiple guys out and have consecutive scoreless inning appearances, they feel good about themselves too. Just like a hitter does.”

Braves starting pitcher Joey Wentz had another strong start for his new club as he allowed one run on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

“I think the thing about our team is pretty much every guy is battle-tested in the playoffs and obviously a lot of them have won a World Series,” Wentz said. “No matter what the record says, the sense that I’ve gotten and the feeling that I’ve gotten is no matter who we play, you still expect to win the game every night, and certainly we have a lot of special players that can do a lot of things.”

In his six outings (five starts) with the Braves, Wentz has allowed 10 runs (nine earned) on 18 hits over 28 2/3 innings.