Takeaways from Atlanta's series-clinching win over the Marlins on Saturday afternoon

Atlanta continues their winning ways, taking the series thanks to a huge first inning

Lindsay Crosby | Jul 1, 2023

Stop me if you've heard this before, but the Atlanta Braves used a big first inning to put away another opponent.

The Braves beat Miami 7-0 in Truist Park on Saturday afternoon, securing the series victory and positioning themselves for a chance at a sweep on Sunday. What do you need to know about the contest?

Miami's Eury Perez had a bad day

Marlins starter Eury Perez, only twenty years old, has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since getting called up in early May. He had a twenty-one inning scoreless streak and had given up only one run in the month of June, a solo homerun to the White Sox's Yasmani Grandal, entering tonight's game.

That streak is over.

The Braves put up seven hits and six runs in the first inning, with two homeruns (from Ronald Acuña Jr and Ozzie Albies), two singles, and two doubles.

By the time George Soriano relieved Perez in this one, the youngster's ERA, which was only 1.34 entering the day, had gone up by more than a full run to 2.47.

Speaking of that first inning offense...

Atlanta continued their phenomenal first inning magic in this one, scoring their first run on the 3rd pitch of the game and having a two run lead after five pitches.

The Braves opened the game with a Ronald Acuña Jr homerun, an Ozzie Albies homerun, consecutive singled from Matt Olson and Austin Riley, and Sean Murphy & Marcell Ozuna driving the pair in with doubles to left field.

Atlanta ended up batting around in the inning, with Ronald Acuña Jr popping out for the third out of the inning.

The Braves bats were strangely quiet after that, with only one baserunner in the 2nd through 7th innings, after Eddie Rosario walked in the 3rd inning. Austin Riley and Matt Olson logged consecutive doubles in the 8th inning to push the lead to seven.

Charlie Morton got his third straight win

The 39 year-old veteran, who recorded his 1800th career strikeout in the 4th inning, again showed his value to a pitching staff that's been missing Max Fried and Kyle Wright for most of the season.

Morton went 5.2 innings with four hits and one walk, striking out five, and earned the win. He was trying to close out the sixth inning before exiting, but with a runner on 3rd and already at 102 pitches, manager Brian Snitker decided to save those bullets for another day and called for the bullpen. Kirby Yates finished off Yuli Gurriel, and Atlanta got scoreless innings from Nick Anderson, Ben Heller, and Joe Jiménez to finish this one off.

For the game, Atlanta pitchers struck out six batters, walking only two and allowing a total of six hits, only one of which went for extra bases.

Orlando Arcia looks like he's coming around

The Braves shortstop, starting in this year's All-Star Game for the National League, has been in a bit of a slump recently that saw his batting average drop from .341 to .298 over the last two weeks. He was the only Atlanta player not to record a hit in last night's 16-4 Braves victory, but he showed signs of turning it around today.

Arcia officially went 1-4 with a RBI, thanks to a 1st inning double that scored Marcell Ozuna and was the end of Eury Perez's day, but he had three hard hit balls in the contest. In addition to his double, he had a 97.9 mph forceout in the 3rd inning and a 105.7 mph groundout in the 6th that was a hard hit ball to first.

It's obvious that the issue now for Arcia is luck - or rather, not much of it, as the four batted balls he hit had expected batting averages of .800 (1st inning double), .340 (3rd inning forceout), .360 (6th inning groundout), and .450 (8th inning lineout). Batting Average on Balls in Play is one of those things that normalizes given enough time, but it's gotta be frustrating for the veteran.

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins on Sunday, June 2nd

First pitch for game three is at 1:35 ET, with Spencer Strider facing off against Sandy Alcantara. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports Southeast and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

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Published Jul 1, 2023

LINDSAY CROSBY

Managing Editor for Braves Today and the 2023 IBWAA Prospects/Minors Writer of the Year. You can reach him at contact@bravestoday.com