Six short days ago, 32,299 fans at loanDepot park bore witness to the finest win of the Marlins’ fascinating 2025 campaign. The 13-12 barnburner featured twists, turns and a plethora of faults from the Yankees, amounting to an exhilarating comeback victory.
Thursday’s first of five games in Atlanta featured the same tropes as seen in last week’s instant classic. This time, though, Miami was on the other side of things.
The Fish jumped out to an early lead, only to crumble in the later innings at a ballpark and against an opponent they know all too well. Atlanta, which owned MLB’s worst record since June 22, bested the hot Marlins, 8-6, in a disheartening defeat. Miami falls to 56-58 on the season.
Jakob Marsee, Eric Wagaman and a long ball from Georgia’s own Graham Pauley combined to drive in five Marlins runs in the second inning. Eury Pérez entered the bottom of the sixth with a four-run lead and only 63 pitches used. At that moment, Miami had an estimated 91% chance to win, per Baseball Savant.
A seemingly harmless missed call would kickstart an unforeseen breakdown.Â
On a 1-2 count to leadoff man Jurickson Profar, Pérez painted a backdoor slider up and away, clipping every part of the zone. Home plate umpire Chris Guccione, however, didn’t see enough to send Profar packing.
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Profar ended up drawing a walk and Matt Olson followed with a single. AgustÃn RamÃrez‘s direct competition for NL Rookie of the Year, Drake Baldwin, cashed in for Atlanta with his second long ball of the night one batter later, drawing the home team within one. Perez’s final line: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO, 3 HR.
In the following frame, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough trotted out Josh Simpson—who entered Thursday’s game having allowed six earned runs in his past 3 â…“ innings pitched—against the top of the Braves’ order. Atlanta made McCullough pay.
Unforced errors—a hit by pitch and walk—set the scene for Baldwin, yet again. In a surprise to nobody, the 24-year-old delivered.
Baldwin’s opposite field single knotted things at six, and an error from Otto Lopez off the bat of former Marlin Marcell Ozuna put the home team in the lead for good. Miami’s offense sputtered in its final six outs, brutally departing Truist Park.
For an inexperienced team like Miami, it’s important for one game not to snowball into the remaining four games in three days in Braves Country. Luckily for McCullough’s group, Edward Cabrera is slated to toe the slab in game two on Friday at 7:15.