Rookie Drake Baldwin hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Atlanta Braves erased a four-run deficit to beat the visiting Miami Marlins 8-6 on Thursday in the opener of a five-game series.
Atlanta ended a three-game losing streak and evened the season series against the Marlins at 3-3. The Braves had lost five in a row at home.
After trailing 6-2 through four innings., Atlanta cut the deficit to one in the sixth on Baldwin’s three-run homer.
Baldwin tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh, then scored to go-ahead run on Marcell Ozuna’s infield hit and a throwing error by shortstop Otto Lopez.
The Braves got an insurance run in the eighth when Jonathan Ornelas singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Baldwin went 3-for-5 with his 12th and 13th homers.
Braves reliever Pierce Johnson (3-3) threw a scoreless seventh inning. Raisel Iglesias worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 15th save.
Marlins reliever Josh Simpson (2-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit and one walk in one-third of an inning.
Neither starter received a decision. Miami’s Eury Perez worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits — three of them home runs — with two walks and one strikeout. Atlanta’s Carlos Carrasco pitched 5 2/3 innings and yielded six runs on nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts.
The Braves got back-to-back solo homers from Baldwin and Ozuna, his 16th, in the first inning.
The Marlins erased the deficit with a five-run rally in the second, getting an RBI single from Jakob Marsee, a two-run triple from Eric Wagaman and a two-run homer from Graham Pauley, his third.
Agustin Ramirez added an RBI single in the fourth to increase Miami’s lead to 6-2.
Baldwin hit his second homer in the sixth, a three-run shot that traveled 422 feet and pulled the Braves within 6-5.
–Field Level Media
