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Eovaldi aims to find win column in Atlanta

Jul 23, 2014 - 2:55 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami Marlins hope that Nathan Eovaldi can bounce back and find the win column on Wednesday night in the third contest of a four-game set with the Atlanta Braves.

Eovaldi has just one victory over his last nine starts, going 1-3 with a 4.92 earned run average. The Marlins are 1-8 over that stretch.

Compounding matters is the fact that the righty is coming off a horrid outing on Friday versus the San Francisco Giants. Eovaldi yielded a season-high eight runs on nine hits and a walk, logging a mere four-plus innings of work.

His outing took a bad turn in the second inning when he ended an 11-pitch at- bat to Brandon Crawford by serving up a two-run homer.

"The first inning was good and then after that, the Crawford at-bat I left one middle-in and he hit a home run," said Eovaldi. "After that it was just tough. I made some really good pitches and they got hit."

The 24-year-old is 5-5 with a 4.08 ERA on the year, but has had a successful career versus the Braves. He is 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA in nine previous meetings.

Ervin Santana hopes to keep heading in the right direction tonight for the Braves, having won three of his last four starts. He opened his second half with a 6-4 victory over Philadelphia on Friday.

Santana yielded four runs -- three earned -- on six hits and three walks over six innings of work, improving to 8-6 with a 4.03 ERA on the year.

The 31-year-old righty is 1-2 with a 5.61 ERA in five career meetings with the Marlins.

Miami held on for a 6-5 victory last night, with Jacob Turner returning from the bullpen to make his first start since June 11. He picked up the win, yielding two runs over five innings. That included escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first inning with only one run allowed.

"After that first inning I kind of settled down," Turner said of his outing. "I felt strong getting back up and down, which I hadn't done in awhile. So overall, I was happy with it."

Miami held on late to extend its winning streak to three in a row for the first time since early June, thanks in part to its 1-through-3 hitters.

Christian Yelich went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI out of the leadoff spot, Donovan Solano recorded a career-high four hits, and Giancarlo Stanton added two hits, a run scored and an RBI for the victors.

The trio had their way with Mike Minor, who was peppered for six runs on 10 hits before being abruptly pulled with no outs in the fourth.

Jason Heyward knocked in three runs while Justin Upton hit a solo homer for the Braves, who have dropped three of their last four.

"We got down early and had to battle back," Upton said. "We did a good job of it, we just didn't finish the job,"

In winning the first two of this set, the Marlins now lead the season series with the Braves 6-5. However, Atlanta is still 14-8 over its last 22 meetings with Miami at Turner Field.