ATLANTA (AP) — Miami first baseman Matt Mervis tallied his first two homers of the season in his first career two-home run game as the Marlins evened the series with a 4-0 win over the Braves on Saturday.
Mervis put the Marlins up 2-0 with a two-run blast in the first and his seventh inning solo shot gave Miami a 4-0 lead. Starting pitcher Cal Quantrill (1-1) pitched a scoreless five innings in which he allowed four hits, no walks and he struck out four.
After giving up seven hits with runners in scoring position in Friday’s 10-0 loss to Atlanta, the Braves went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against Miami’s pitching staff Saturday. The Marlins tallied 11 strikeouts as a team.
Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver (0-2) went 4 2/3 innings allowing three earned runs on seven hits and he tallied three walks and six strikeouts.
If the Marlins win on Sunday, it will be their first series win in Atlanta since April 22-24, 2022.
Key moment
Braves pinch hitter Stuart Fairchild led off the bottom of the eighth with a triple off Marlins reliever Anthony Veneziano. He was stranded there. Veneziano struck out leadoff hitter Michael Harris II before he was replaced by Calvin Faucher. Faucher caused Ozzie Albies to ground out and then struck out Marcell Ozuna to hold the Braves scoreless.
Key stat
The Marlins tallied 12 batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 miles per hour or higher and six batted balls of 100 miles per hour or higher. Of those, five resulted in base hits. Mervis’ home runs were 106.5 miles per hour and 104.2 miles per hour.
Up next
Right-hander Sandy Alcantara (1-0) is scheduled to face Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes (0-1) in the series finale on Sunday.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Rick Farlow, The Associated Press
