ATLANTA _ The crowd still does that incessant Chop. Waffle House and Chick-fil-A are still dining options in the ballpark (though not on Sundays for the latter).
The Miami Marlins made their first visit Friday to SunTrust Park intent on imposing one notable change in the new home of the Braves. Their record in the former quarters at Turner Field on the south side of the city was dreadful: 68-106, a pitiful winning percentage of .391.
With Justin Bour returning from the disabled list with a home run, Christian Yelich driving in three runs and Dan Straily holding the Braves in check for 61/3 innings, the Marlins took a first step in reversing those fortunes with a 5-0 victory.
Bour, in his second at-bat off the 10-day disabled list, drove a 96-mph fastball from Sean Newcomb 435 feet onto the rocks beyond the fence in center. It was Bour's 17th homer and his sixth off a left-hander since beginning his career with none in the first 124 plate appearances of his career against them.
Asked prior to the game about his first impression of the ballpark, Bour said, "I think it's a good place to hit a ball is all I've heard."
Yelich had three hits, driving in the first run with a double adding cushion with a two-out, two-run single in the ninth.
Based on the recent scoring binges by both teams, the giant 2-month-old scoreboard seemed likely to get a major workout.
The Braves were coming off winning two of three at Washington in which they scored 29 runs off the usually stingy Nationals' staff. The Marlins tallied 19 in sweeping two at home against the A's, and over the previous 19 games their 112 runs were tied for third-most in the majors.
Naturally, the game quickly developed as a pitching duel between Braves rookie Newcomb and Straily, the Marlins' most consistent starter but coming off one of his worst outings. The hard-throwing Newcomb was looking to improve on a dynamic debut (no runs allowed in 61/3 innings against the Mets).
The Marlins chipped away for three runs off Newcomb in six innings with Bour supplying the big blow in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Straily kept the Braves off balance with an effective complement of off-speed pitches set up by his fastball. He allowed only four hits while striking out eight. He didn't issue a walk while throwing 91 pitches (64 strikes).
Straily was in trouble only in the first when he worked around a leadoff double, stranding the runner at third with back-to-back strikeouts.
He didn't allow another runner to reach second. A leadoff single by Johan Camargo in the third was erased when Newcomb bunted into a double play.
The Marlins made themselves at home quickly when Dee Gordon led off the game with a single, stole second and scored on Yelich's liner to left-center that sliced away from Ender Inciarte and skipped to the wall.
The Marlins missed a chance to break the game open in the sixth when they scored only one run after loading the bases loaded with no outs. The run came home when J.T. Realmuto grounded into a double play. Two walks reloaded the bases, but a grounder that was thwarted by diving shortstop Dansby Swanson left them that way.
It didn't matter as Straily cruised into the seventh before being lifted following a one-out single by Tyler Flowers.
Thanks to the bullpen, Braves didn't get another runner. Jarlin Garcia quelled that hint of trouble with back-to-back strikeouts. David Phelps breezed through a 1-2-3 eighth, and Kyle Barraclough breezed through the ninth.
