Dominic Smith launched a three-run opposite-field double with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 6-5 win over the visiting Miami Marlins on Tuesday.
The rally came against reliever Pete Fairbanks (0-1), who allowed a leadoff single to Drake Baldwin. Two outs later, Mike Yastrzemski singled and Ozzie Albies was hit by a pitch. Smith, who had been 0-for-6 lifetime against Fairchild, banged a 2-1 cutter off the left-center-field fence to clear the bases.
Smith went 3-for-4 with four RBIs on the night, lifting his batting average to .395.
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth inning, striking out two, to earn his third save. Robert Suarez (2-0) allowed a run on three hits in the eighth inning but still earned the win.
Neither starter figured in the decision. Miami’s Max Meyer pitched five innings and allowed three runs on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez found his control in the third inning and wound up pitching five innings. He allowed a season-high four runs, three earned, five hits and three walks while fanning six.
The teams will play the decisive game of the three-game series on Wednesday.
Miami scored a run in the first on a sacrifice fly from Agustin Ramirez, then added three in the second to take a 4-0 lead. Connor Norby drove in a run with a single, Graham Pauley knocked in a run with a double — although Javier Sanoja was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. — and Jakob Marsee added an RBI single to complete the Marlins’ fourth three-run inning of the series.
The Braves got a run-scoring single from Smith in the second, then plated two runs in the third on back-to-back RBI doubles from Baldwin and Matt Olson, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
The Marlins added an insurance run in the eighth inning on an opposite-field single by Otto Lopez that drove in Ramirez.
Olson played in his 800th consecutive game and owns the 11th-longest streak in history, dating to May 2, 2021 when he was with the then-Oakland Athletics. Olson is 74 games shy of Dale Murphy’s Braves franchise record of 740 consecutive games.
–Field Level Media
