ATL 2, MIA 1; NL East champs AAAAAgain

Oct 5, 2022 - 11:00 AM

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Much to the chagrin of the New York Mets fans in attendance at LoanDepot Park on Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves celebrated their fifth consecutive National League East division title under the Miami moonlight. The Mets were reliant on the Marlins to sweep the Braves this week to keep them in the race, but the home team came up a run short in Game 161.

Braxton Garrett’s control has taken a major step forward in 2022. However, this start was not a testament to that. He issued four unintentional walks—a pair of those came on four pitches, which is something he hadn’t done all season.

Garrett stepped up in most of the game’s high-pressure moments, but Ronald Acuña Jr. got to him in the top of the second inning with a two-out RBI single.

Jesús Sánchez tied things up at 1-1 in the fourth. He blasted a Jake Odorizzi fastball over the wall in left. It was Sánchez’s 13th home run as a Marlin this season, but just his first of the opposite-field variety.

The eventual game-winning run came off the bat of William Contreras in the fifth when he tapped an infield single in the direction of Jordan Groshans.

Huascar Brazoban put the finishing touches on a surprisingly solid rookie season. The soon-to-be 33-year-old got into a messy situation in the top of the sixth, allowing a single, a walk and then falling behind in the count 3-0 against Acuña (all with no outs in the inning). But he steadied himself, inducing a force out and a double play to prevent any insurance runs from crossing the plate.

With the score still 2-1, A.J. Minter loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth. Don Mattingly, called upon pinch-hitter Nick Fortes to replace Sánchez, who’s been abysmal against left-handed pitching this season (-25 wRC+). Can’t fault him for that decision, but Fortes popped out to end the threat.

Groshans was the Marlins’ last hope in the ninth against Kenley Jansen. He battled the veteran closer for eighth pitches before flying out to right.

What a bizarre offensive game this was. The Braves had baserunners in every single inning, but stranded all but two of them. The Marlins had seven of the eight farthest-hit batted balls and had even less to show for it.

Bryan De La Cruz enjoyed a ho-hum 1-for-3 night with a double and a walk. Jon Berti stole his 41st base of the season and I got this nice GIF out of it.

Don Mattingly’s Postgame Press Conference

Baseball Savant

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Game 162 is on deck. Like most other contests on Wednesday’s MLB schedule, it will start during the four o’clock hour (4:10 p.m., to be precise). Expect the Marlins’ player usage to skew on the younger side—keeping with team tradition, several veterans will be serving as honorary coaches under the direction of acting manager Jacob Stallings. Recently recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville, Elieser Hernandez gets the start in what will possibly be the final appearance of his Marlins career.