MIAMI _ All Jose Urena could do was watch as Ronald Acuna Jr.'s towering home run in the fourth inning landed in the seats in right-center field. Acuna took his time trotting the bases, even carrying his bat most of the way down the first-base line before flipping it back toward his dugout.
By that point, though, the Atlanta Braves had already done the bulk of their damage.
Once again, the Braves found a way to rough up Urena.
The Marlins starter gave up 11 hits and six earned runs before exiting in the fourth inning of Miami's 7-1 loss to the Braves to open a nine-game homestand.
It was an unusually familiar sight. Urena now has a 6.64 career ERA in 16 outings against the Braves (34-29) and has given up at least five earned runs in three of his last four outings against Atlanta. The fourth? He only threw one pitch in that game before being ejected and ultimately suspended for plunking Acuna with a 98 mph fastball on Aug. 15.
The damage on Friday started in the first inning when Freddie Freeman belted a two-run home run to right field. Acuna's RBI single in the second scored Ozzie Albies, and an Albies RBI single in the third scored Nick Markakis to extend the lead to 4-0 before Acuna's leadoff home run in the fourth. Dansby Swanson singled one at-bat later and came home on a Freeman double before Urena's night mercifully came to an end. Urena's record falls to 4-7 on the year. His season ERA is 4.70.
Acuna and Albies each finished with three hits.
Friday ended a streak of nine consecutive starts in which Urena threw at least six innings. He gave up three runs or fewer in eight of those starts. The one outlier? A 7-2 loss to the Braves on May 3.
Wei-Yin Chen (two innings), Jeff Brigham (three innings) and Tyler Kinley (one inning) finished the game on the mound, combining to hold the Braves to one run on three hits and three walks over six innings.
Braves starter Mike Soroka held the Marlins (23-38) to three hits over eight shutout innings before being pulled after giving up a leadoff walk in the ninth to Curtis Granderson. The rookie struck out six batters.
The Marlins, who are now 1-6 against the Braves this season, scored their lone run in the ninth when Starlin Castro drove in Granderson with a single up the middle against Braves reliever Dan Winkler. Brian Anderson doubled before Castro's at-bat to get Granderson to third.
