ATLANTA — The Miami Marlins on Saturday were ready to move on from the dramatics that took place the night before when their starting pitcher, manager and pitching coach were all ejected in the bottom of the first inning after the Atlanta Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by the first pitch that came his way.
Frustration boiled over during the eventual Miami loss and into the postgame interview session when manager Don Mattingly vented about how the umpiring crew mishandled the decision.
What better way to move on than to even up the series?
Sandy Alcantara put together a quality start on the mound and Garrett Cooper hit a solo home run and drove in two runs overall as the Marlins defeated the Braves, 3-2, at Truist Park to finish the first half of the 2021 season with a 35-46 record.
The three-game series concludes at 1:20 p.m. Sunday.
Alcantara threw six innings on Saturday, holding the Braves (40-42) to one unearned run on five hits and four walks while striking out four. Twenty of his 62 fastballs were at least 100 mph. He worked around traffic on the basepaths by forcing a pair of double plays and inducing a lot of weak contact.
The only run Alcantara gave up came in the fifth when three Braves batters reached base in a span of three pitches. A Jon Berti fielding error at third base allowed Acuna to reach before Freddie Freeman and Ozzie Albies hit back-to-back singles to bring Acuna home.
Most importantly, Alcantara provided needed relief for a bullpen that had to throw eight innings Friday after Pablo Lopez was ejected one pitch into his start in the series opener after he hit Acuna with a 91.6-mph sinker. Five relievers — Ross Detwiler (three innings), Anthony Bender (two innings), Richard Bleier (one inning), Anthony Bass (one inning) and Dylan Floro (one inning) — ate up those innings on Friday.
They went back to two of those pitchers on Saturday.
Floro, who threw 32 pitches on Friday, held the Braves to an unearned run in the seventh but needed 31 pitches to get out of the frame. Ehire Adrianza reached on a two-base fielding error from left fielder Jesus Sanchez fielding error, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Freddie Freeman single.
Bleier, who needed 12 pitches for his scoreless sixth inning on Friday, threw a scoreless eighth inning on just eight pitches Saturday.
And Yimi Garcia worked a scoreless ninth to convert his 13th save in 16 opportunities.
The offense provided enough support as well a night after being shut out. Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Cooper hit RBI singles in the third to give Miami an early 2-0 lead and Cooper hit his seventh home run of the season in the sixth.
