ATLANTA _ The Miami Marlins, scrappy as they had been throughout the last two months, tried for one final rally ahead of the All-Star break as they broke into the Atlanta Braves' bullpen.
They fell a run short.
Garrett Cooper hit a three-run homer to break up a shutout and put the Marlins within striking distance, but Miami would get no closer in a 4-3 loss to the Braves on Sunday at SunTrust Park.
The Marlins loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth on three consecutive singles but Luke Jackson got Neil Walker to fly out into a double play for the first two outs. A walk to Curtis Granderson re-loaded the bases, but Miguel Rojas hit a fly ball to center field for the final out.
The loss sends the Marlins (33-55) into the midseason break on a down note after showing marked improvement over the past seven weeks. The Marlins went 23-24 in their last 47 games after a 10-31 start to the season.
Braves starter Dallas Keuchel kept the Marlins in check through 7 1/3 innings, giving up five hits and a walk while striking out four. He exited in the eighth after giving up a walk to pinch-hitter Brian Anderson and a single to Rojas.
Reliever Chad Sobotka quickly struck out Cesar Puello before Cooper's eighth home run of the season gave the Marlins some momentary life.
But overall, it wasn't enough to make up for another pedestrian start from Trevor Richards, who gave up four earned runs over five innings on six hits and five walks.
Richards looked solid through the first two innings, during which time he relied more on his four-seam fastball than his change-up. All nine of Richards' swinging strikes from the first two innings _ four of which resulted in strikeouts _ came from the fastball, which he threw 26 times.
The Braves (54-37) quickly went to work against him in the third.
Ronald Acuna opened the frame with a walk and reached second on a Dansby Swanson groundout. Freddie Freeman hit an elevated cutter for an RBI single to bring Acuna home before Josh Donaldson ripped an elevated fastball 423 feet to right-center field to give Atlanta an early 3-0 lead.
The Braves tacked on a fourth run in the fifth when Nick Markakis' bloop single into left field scored Donaldson, who doubled one batter earlier.
The Marlins have now lost six consecutive games with Richards on the mound. Richards has a 5.51 ERA in that span, giving up 20 earned runs on 36 hits and 15 walks with 25 strikeouts over 32 2/3 innings. Four of those six starts ended after four innings.
In comparison, Richards had a 3.53 ERA (26 earned runs in 66 1/3 innings) with 63 strikeouts against 30 walks in his first 12 starts this year. He held opponents to a .216 batting average and had six quality starts, defined as giving up no more than three earned runs while throwing at least six innings.
