ATLANTA _ The Miami Marlins' new-look bullpen had the recipe for success cooking until the ninth inning Friday.
Braves catcher Tyler Flowers spoiled the soup when he slammed the second pitch from A.J. Ramos to left for a game-tying homer.
It took Unplanned B to get the job done when Jose Fernandez hit a two-run pinch-hit double with two outs in the 12th inning for a 7-5 victory.
Yes, the Marlins' ace right-hander, scheduled to pitch Saturday, was called on to bat because the Marlins had used all of their bench players. Fernandez drove a 1-1 fastball from Casey Kelly into the gap in left-center.
Dustin McGowan got the unexpected save when he retired the Braves in order in the bottom of the 12th.
That was supposed to be the job of Ramos, who had converted his first 24 save chances of the season and was tied for the club record with 33 consecutive saves since 2015.
After being assured he would remain the closer despite the arrival of veteran Fernando Rodney, Ramos was in position for the record-breaker after Rodney pitched a hitless eighth in his Marlins debut. Rodney allowed a walk and struck out two.
Kyle Barraclough and David Phelps had provided an effective bridge to the late innings, pitching a scoreless inning apiece, after the Marlins rallied from a deficit with some timely hitting in the seventh inning.
Reliever Nick Wittgren escaped a based-loaded jam in the 10th hitting Flowers in the helmet and a two-base error by Adeiny Hechavarria, who bumped into Christian Yelich attempting to catch Freddie Freeman's fly to shallow.
The previous night, manager Don Mattingly was at a loss, searching for answers to his club's inability to expand or hold leads, musing that perhaps he wasn't doing enough to prepare the team.
"The name of the game is runs, not necessarily hits," Mattingly said, touching on the persistent problem of leaving runners on base. "That's where we're falling short a little bit, but I think we know we're capable."
The Marlins finally delivered on that assessment with three consecutive two-out hits in the seventh to score twice and regain the lead they had frittered away earlier.
Marcell Ozuna's fourth hit of the night, off reliever Chris Withrow, put Miami ahead after Christian Yelich tied it with his second double of the game in the seventh.
Ozuna, in matching his career high for hits in a game, also hit a two-run homer against Julio Teheran.
The Marlins scored five in seven innings against the Braves ace, who had a 1.72 ERA in his 13 previous starts.
They have put together impressive numbers on average. But Miami began the night with the dubious distinction of leading majors in runners left on base.
Stranding 601 in 79 games, the Marlins were averaging 7.6 LOB per game. That included 37 in the first three games of the trip.
For the second straight night the Marlins had a 3-0 lead, this time four batters into the first inning.
The Marlins put an abrupt end to Teheran's streak of 23 consecutive scoreless innings as Derek Dietrich hit the second pitch 428 feet into the seats in right. It was Dietrich's second career homer leading off a game.
They made it 3-0 when Yelich doubled and Ozuna followed with his team-leading 17th homer to left.
It took Justin Nicolino less than five innings to give the advantage back and more. Chase d'Arnaud's first career homer, a no-doubt 403-foot, two-run shot to left to put the Braves ahead 4-3.
A leadoff walk to the pitcher and an overturned out at first on a replay review negated a would-be double play set it up.
Nicolino returned from a demotion to Triple-A, where he has pitched well. He has not been able to translate that success to the majors, going nine starts without a win. He gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings.
Regarding the difficulty in getting runners home, Mattingly said, "(Hitting coach) Barry (Bonds) and I talked about it before the game. What do we do about it? How do we attack it? We're not quite sure. I don't really have an answer for that."
The answer remained elusive early Friday as they left the bases loaded in the second when Teheran got Yelich to swing through a 3-2 slider.
Dietrich continued his uncanny knack for being hit by pitches. Plunked 16 times this season, he's one away from Carlos Delgado's club record set in 2005.
