ATLANTA _ If the remaining weeks of the Miami Marlins' season are a bit of an experiment, trying different pieces in different places to see what might make sense in the year and years to come, consider their 4-1 win Sunday over the Atlanta Braves a success.
J.T. Realmuto, perhaps the most athletic catcher in baseball, made his first start at first base and looked quite capable. He handled himself in the field, including reeling in Tyler Flowers' bloop with a running, over-the-shoulder catch in shallow right, and was his typically productive self at the plate, going 2 for 4 with a homer.
The Marlins paired Realmuto and Marcell Ozuna's back-to-back homers in the first with another strong outing from right-hander Jose Urena to salvage the weekend series. They beat the Braves for the fourth time in 11 games this season.
Realmuto playing first was a spring-training experiment that didn't materialize into much once the games started counting. It was meant merely to offer an extra degree of flexibility for the Marlins' short bench, not serve as an indication of Realmuto's defensive fate.
But before Sunday, he had played there just once previously, two innings in a blowout loss in May. After an impressive complete-game showing, it wouldn't surprise to see Realmuto get more time there.
Why not?
Starter Justin Bour is expected to be out at least into September with a strained right oblique. Backup Tyler Moore had a slash line of .132/.209/.184 in the second half entering Sunday. Tomas Telis, another catcher who sometimes plays first, dropped a pickoff attempt Saturday and hasn't made much of an argument with his bat.
If nothing else, the Marlins at least were able to keep Realmuto's bat in the lineup on a day he usually has off (a Sunday day game after a Saturday night game) while not making him crouch behind the plate all afternoon. After a heavy workload in the season's first four months, limiting Realmuto's day-to-day physical strain would be a move made with an eye toward 2018.
Atlanta righty Lucas Sims, making his second major league start, pitched six innings and gave up four runs, all in the first on homers by Ozuna and Realmuto.
Urena largely sailed. He didn't allow a baserunner until the third and didn't allow a run until the sixth, which he completed at 73 pitches but did not return for the seventh. The Braves had three hits and one walk against Urena, striking out three times _ including Freddie Freeman swinging at a slider to end the sixth, drawing a spinning fist pump from Urena as he exited.
