Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies led off the game with home runs to spark a six-run first inning and help the Atlanta Braves to a 7-0 win over the visiting Miami Marlins on Saturday.
The Braves extended their winning streak to seven games.
The Braves jumped on rookie phenom Eury Perez, who entered the game with 21 consecutive scoreless innings. Perez was knocked out after seven of the eight batters he faced reached base, five of them on extra-base hits, resulting in six Atlanta runs.
The Braves have won 15 of their last 16 games and eight of nine games against the Marlins this season. Atlanta extended its lead over Miami in the N.L. East to eight games.
The winning pitcher was Charlie Morton (8-6). He pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk with five strikeouts. Morton won his third straight start and improved to 13-5 in his career against Miami.
The Atlanta bullpen finished the game with Kirby Yates, Nick Anderson, Ben Heller and Joe Jimenez limiting the Marlins to two hits.
Perez (5-2) had allowed only one run over his previous six starts (33 innings) but gave up a career-high six runs and seven hits. He saw his ERA jump from 1.34 to 2.47.
The Marlins got stellar bullpen work. George Soriano (3 2/3 innings), Huascar Brazoban (two innings) and Dylan Florio (one inning) held the Braves hitless until Steven Okert allowed a run in the eighth.
Acuna began the game with the 30th leadoff home run of his career, seven of those against the Marlins. Albies followed with his 19th homer. Sean Murphy, Marcell Ozuna and Orlando Arcia added RBI doubles.
The Braves have scored 87 first-inning runs this season, the most in the majors. It was the third time in eight games that Atlanta has scored at least five runs in the first inning.
Atlanta didn’t get another hit until the eighth inning against Okert. Austin Riley and Matt Olson had back-to-back doubles to tack on another run.
–Field Level Media
