The Braves kept rolling Monday with an 11-3 win over the Marlins, finishing off a sweep and running their winning streak to eight straight. It was the kind of game that started quietly enough, then turned into a full-on mess for Miami once Atlanta got into the middle innings and never looked back.
For a while, it didn’t feel like much was happening. Matt Olson ripped a double in the first, but Michael Harris II grounded out.
Martin Perez walked the leadoff man in the second, then escaped with the help of a double play. The early innings were mostly routine, which made the first burst of Braves weirdness stand out even more.
That came in the second, when Mauricio Dubon tried to stretch a soft single into a double and got thrown out. Two batters later, Dominic Smith did the exact same thing on an even softer liner to left and was also cut down trying to take second. Then the third inning brought the play that really set the tone for the night, with two outs and a runner on first, this happened:
It wasn’t the ball going off Jose Canseco’s head. It wasn’t even Tim Hudson’s adventure with Bryce Harper. But, nonetheless, it was very silly, and helped repay Ronald Acuña Jr. for at least some of the heinous xwOBA underperformance he’s experienced this season.
Soon after that, the rain rolled in and knocked Perez and Janson Junk out of the game. Perez finished with 3 IP, 3/1 K/BB, while Junk logged 3 IP, 1/1 K/BB and allowed one “homer.”
The Braves didn’t really need long to put the game away once the weather cleared enough for the bullpen parade to continue. Tyler Kinley handled the fourth, and Atlanta had a chance to add more when Dubon walked, stole second, and moved to third on a throwing error. But the inning fizzled with Smith grounding out and Austin Riley taking a strike three right down the middle.
The real damage came in the sixth. Olson nearly left the yard on a foul ball, then five pitches later turned on a changeup at his ankles and launched it to center for a 3-0 lead. Harris doubled, Dubon followed with a single, and then Lane Thomas - pinch-hitting for Mike Yastrzemski against lefty John King - ripped a first-pitch slider down the left-field line for his first hit with his new team and a 4-0 cushion.
Atlanta kept the inning moving from there. Ozzie Albies drew a walk to load the bases, Riley lifted a sacrifice fly, and then a pair of grounders looked like they might end the frame before Xavier Edwards bobbled the second one and another run crossed. Acuña nearly added more, but lined out hard to center to close the inning.
Miami finally pushed back in the seventh against Danny Young, who was the only Brave besides Jim Jarvis, who went 0-for-4, to have a rough night. Young struck out his first batter, then allowed a walk and a few singles to make it 6-2.
He could have escaped by retiring Brian Navaretto, but instead hit him on the shin with a sweeper, forcing Dylan Lee into a bases-loaded spot. Lee cleaned it up when Otto Lopez lifted an 0-1 changeup to center.
Atlanta answered immediately. A walk, triple, and single against Victor Vodnik gave the Braves those two runs right back in the bottom half of the inning.
From there, the game only got stranger. Brent Suter made his Braves debut in the eighth and picked off a batter he had walked.
Cade Gibson was next in line for Miami, and Acuña greeted him with his second homer of the night. This one wasn’t really aided by a fielder, but it was still the kind of fly ball that just kept drifting until it cleared the generous wall in front of the Chop House.
It was Acuña’s second two-homer game of the year and maybe the most unusual one of his career.
Atlanta wasn’t done. Olson lined one to center that popped out of the fielder’s glove, Harris singled him home, and Dubon followed with a double to make it 11-2. That double came against Sanoja, who had been “punished” for missing Olson’s liner by being forced to pitch and finish the inning.
Suter returned for the ninth and essentially just threw soft stuff over the plate to get through the game. Miami collected three hits on letter-high, sub-90 mph fastballs before the final outs finally arrived.
Braves pitching finished with an 8/4 K/BB ratio and kept the Marlins in the yard. By this count, Atlanta has now gone five games without allowing a homer, which is wild and very helpful.
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The night also served up a quick reminder that Double-A is often where every mistake gets amplified. Brewers prospect Josh Adamczewski set the tone immediately, and his strong 2026 season has only made him more of a challenge since his promotion, leaving Caminiti with a welcome-to-the-level test that carried plenty of edge even in defeat. [Read more 🡒]