MIAMI _ Adonis Garcia had been a non-factor for the Braves since tearing a thumb ligament and having surgery in June. However, the former starting third baseman delivered the biggest blow Sunday when they snapped a six-game skid and won the final game of their disappointing season.
Garcia's three-run, pinch-hit homer with two out in the seventh inning sent the Braves to an 8-5 win against Miami as they avoided being swept in the four-game season-ending series at Marlins Park and finished with a 72-90 record.
Left-hander Max Fried, one of four rookie pitchers who started games in the past five days for the Braves, was better than his line score indicated. He showed enough to give the team and fans reason to believe the slender, curveball-slinging Californian could be a impactful performer in 2018, much as Luiz Gohara did two nights before.
Fried had a career-high seven strikeouts with one walk and struck out five consecutive batters before Giancarlo Stanton's two-out single in the third inning, the first hit for the Marlins. He was charged with six hits and four runs (two earned) in 4-1/3 innings, all the runs coming in the fifth when the Marlins erased an early 3-0 deficit by opening the inning with three consecutive singles and capitalizing on a throwing error by shortstop Dansby Swanson.
But instead of blowing a big lead and losing like they had in Gohara's start, Braves hitters got Fried off the hook and pulled out a win to end an otherwise dismal eight-game trip that began with a win in the first game of a doubleheader and was followed by six consecutive losses as manager Brian Snitker's job status _ now seemingly tenuous _ became an increasing subject of speculation.
Garcia missed three months and lost his starting job, and since returning Sept. 4 he'd gone 2-for-18 with one walk in 13 games before Sunday, including just three starts (two at third base, one in left field).
He had one hit in his last 16 at-bats when he strode to the plate with two runners on base and two out in the seventh inning to face Justin Nicolino, who had just entered the game after the Braves had regained a 5-4 lead on Swanson's RBI single off Junichi Tazawa, the third single allowed by Tazawa in a five-batter span to start the inning.
Garcia took a called first-pitch strike and two balls before unloading on a hanging change-up Tazawa left over the plate. He hit it a long way, the ball banging off a garish pop-art sculpture that rises beyond the fence in left-center field, Garcia's fifth home run of the season, first as a pinch-hitter this season and second in 25 career pinch-hit plate appearances.
The Braves suddenly had a four-run lead, enough to easily withstand a Marcell Ozuna solo homer off beleaguered reliever Jim Johnson in the seventh inning.
As for Fried, he'll go to the offseason knowing that his stuff, particularly his curveball, is good enough not just to survive but thrive in the big leagues. The rookie had a two-hit shutout until the fifth inning, when the Marlins opened the inning with three straight singles followed by two ground-outs, with Swanson misfiring on a throw to second base on the second of those grounders to allow a run to score and the batter to reach third base.
The final run charged to Fried scored on J.T. Realmuto's ground-out against reliever Jason Motte.
Fried got no decision in his fourth start and ninth career appearances. As a starter, he went 1-1 with a 3.44 ERA, allowing eleven runs but only seven earned in 18 1/3 innings, with 16 strikeouts and six walks.
