After suffering a letdown to end their homestand against the Mets, the Atlanta Braves went on the road to take on another familiar foe in the form of the Miami Marlins. After the Mets took the series against the Braves (for a change), the Marlins had an opportunity to follow in New York’s footsteps by ending their season series on a high note against the Braves. Heading into these three games, the season series between these two was still pretty tight and the Marlins could’ve actually taken it had they pulled off a sweep.
Any hope of that happening evaporated once the middle of this series rolled around, as the Braves delivered a vintage beatdown over the final 10 innings of this series. It took a minute but we got our usual fish fry down on South Beach after all, as these final two games ended up being as lopsided as you’ll ever see this matchup get. Let’s get into it, y’all.
Apparently it was Spencer Strider’s turn to experience the bad luck that befell a bunch of Braves starters during last season and the early portion of this season. Strider had arguably one of his best starts of the season on Monday night, which was very encouraging to see after he had gotten blown up for three straight starts against the Brewers, Mets and White Sox. Part of that is that those three teams have been doing their fair share of good hitting since the All-Star break and the Marlins have been below-average since then but Spencer Strider certainly needed an outing like this to at least show that all hope isn’t lost.
Unfortunately, Strider’s great start coincided with Edward Cabrera being even better. According to FanGraphs’ Game Score v2 metric, both of Cabrera’s best starts this season have come against the Atlanta Braves this month. Back on August 8, he struck out 11 and only gave up two hits and one run over eight innings. This time, Cabrera “only” went seven innings but he struck out ten while only giving up one hit and zero runs. Strider was great but Cabrera was untouchable and that was the difference in this one.
Only a solo homer in the ninth inning from Drake Baldwin kept the Braves from getting shut out but it did doom the Braves to their 29th one-run loss of the season, making them 19-29 for the season in such games. They now lead the National League in one-run losses and only the White Sox (who have 30 one-run losses) are keeping them from leading all of baseball in that statistic. Oof!
For the first eight innings of this game, this was a tight contest as a pitchers’ duel broke out between Hurston Waldrep and Sandy Alcantara. Waldrep delivered another strong (if unspectacular) start for the Braves in this one. Waldrep didn’t strike out anybody and he gave up eight hits but he pitched into the sixth inning with only one run allowed, as he managed to dance out of any trouble he got into. Meanwhile, Alcantara appears to be figuring it out, as he’s had three straight good starts and struck out seven Braves batters over seven innings in this one. He did give up a pair of runs (including a home run from Ozzie Albies in the fourth inning) but that was it. This was looking like it would be another tight contest between these two divisional foes.
Then the ninth inning rolled around and the dam collapsed in catastrophic fashion for Miami. Here’s how the ninth inning went for the Braves: Double, pop-out, walk, go-ahead double, single, single, walk, walk, pop-out, single, home run, fly-out. Once the smoke cleared, a 2-2 game turned into an 11-2 laugher for the Braves. Ozzie Albies in particular was the star of this show, as he was the one who hit the homer in that sequence — his second of the night. The win confirmed the season series win for the Braves (more on that later) but mostly it was just really fun to watch that hit parade in the top of the ninth inning.
Jurickson Profar led this one off with a home run off of the third pitch that he had seen form Ryan Gusto and that dinger immediately set the tone for another beatdown. The third inning was a spicy one, as Matt Olson’s two-run homer that put the Braves in firm control of this one was immediately followed up by Gusto hitting Ronald Acuña Jr. with a pitch. Now granted, it was likely unintentional but considering the history between Acuña and the Marlins, Acuña’s reaction was understandable. Both teams were issued a warning as the benches calmly cleared and Brian Snitker ended up getting ran because he disagreed with the dual warning.
The fourth inning served as the death knell for the Marlins in this one, as Atlanta added three more runs thanks to a two-RBI single from Ozzie Albies (who added a homer later on to complete a fantastic series in Miami) and then Albies was brought home with a single from Michael Harris II to make it 9-0 Braves at that point. Atlanta ended up putting up 12 on the board in this one, with Albies accumulating five of the RBIs and Harris racking up three of his own. Jurickson Profar ended up with two dingers in this one as well, as he’s certainly stepped his game up at the plate in recent times.
Meanwhile, Joey Wentz found his groove and cruised through nearly seven innings of work. He only gave up four hits, two walks and one run while striking out five and making sure that Miami had no hope whatsoever of getting back in this one. It was a comfortable win for the Braves and a lovely way to cap off the season series against their foes from South Florida.
So this was certainly satisfying to watch! The first win of this series confirmed that the Braves would take the season series over the Marlins for the eleventh (11th) straight season. The second win of this series was just another reminder of the vice grip that this team has had on Miami in recent times — and all-time, really.
Since the Marlins joined the National League in 1993, the Braves have gone 325-214 against them and the only team that has been as dominant over another team during that span has been the Dodgers racking up 325 wins over the Rockies since ‘93. This has become a habit for the Braves for generations now and things haven’t changed even in a down year for the Braves here in 2025.
As far as the Lottery race goes, the Braves are now solidly in a logjam with the Twins, Orioles, A’s and Marlins. Just one game separates the Braves from being as low as seventh and as high as third in the Lottery Odds rankings. This really could go either way, as any of these teams getting hot during the stretch might “doom” them to a mediocre place in the Lottery. Likewise, a “well-timed” losing streak or extended run of bad form by any one of these teams could see their chances of securing double-digit percentage odds in the Lottery increase dramatically.
With that being said, it certainly seems like the Braves have ben playing better baseball for the most part in recent times. That might change if the Phillies bring them down to Earth over a four-gam series this week but for now, the Braves are continuing to make the most out of this current phase of playing out the string.