Right fielder Garrett Cooper drove home two runs and right-hander Sandy Alcantara pitched six strong innings to help the visiting Miami Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Saturday.
Cooper was 2-for-4 and hit his seventh homer and Alcantara (5-7) allowed one unearned run on five hits, four walks and four strikeouts to earn his second win over the Braves this season.
The Marlins survived three errors to even the series at a game apiece and improve their road record to 17-28. Miami has won six of nine games against Atlanta.
The Marlins' bullpen was solid for the second straight night. Dylan Floro allowed an unearned run in the seventh and Richard Bleier pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Yimi Garcia worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 13th save.
Garcia gave up a two-out hit to Freddie Freeman, who went 3-for-3 with two walks, but got Ozzie Albies on a lineout to right field to end the game. Garcia has not allowed a run in 10 career appearances against the Braves.
Atlanta starter Kyle Muller (1-2) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on four hits, four walks and seven strikeouts in his third major league start.
The Marlins scored twice in the third inning. Jazz Chisholm Jr. lined a single to right field to drive in the first run and later scored on Cooper's sharp single to left.
Atlanta cut the lead to 2-1 in the fifth when Albies poked an RBI single to right field, but the Marlins got the run back in the top of the sixth when Cooper led off and lined a solo homer to right field.
The Braves scored again in the seventh on Freeman's RBI single, but stranded two runners when Dansby Swanson concluded a nine-pitch at-bat by grounding to third.
There were no further incidents after Friday's ejection of Miami pitcher Pablo Lopez after hitting Ronald Acuna Jr. with his first pitch. No pitches came close to Acuna Saturday and he went 0-for-3 with two walks and was caught stealing. Acuna struck out in the ninth.
--Field Level Media
Miami | Atlanta | |
Sandy Alcantara | Player | Kyle Muller |
Win | W/L | Loss |
6.0 | IP | 5.2 |
4 | Strikeouts | 7 |
5 | Hits | 4 |
0.00 | ERA | 4.76 |
Miami | Atlanta | |
Garrett Cooper | Player | Freddie Freeman |
2 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 1 |
1 | HR | 0 |
5 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | 1.000 |