Michael Harris II hit a triple, a single, and scored the winning run in the seventh inning, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 5-4 victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday.
Gio Urshela and Ozzie Albies both homered, while Matt Olson contributed with two hits and an RBI for the Braves (85-71), who started the day two games behind the New York Mets for the third NL wild card spot. The Braves will return home to begin a three-game series against the Mets on Tuesday.
“This is one of the hardest fought games that I’ve been a part of in a long time,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker. “It’s pretty good how the guys kept stepping up.”
In the seventh inning, Jorge Soler hit an infield single with the bases loaded against Declan Cronin (3-4), scoring Harris from third and giving the Braves the lead.
In the bottom half, the Marlins loaded the bases with no outs against Aaron Bummer. Otto López and Derek Hill both singled, and Nick Fortes reached on a sacrifice after Bummer tried for a force out at third but failed.
Bummer struck out Xavier Edwards before Daysbel Hernández came in and struck out Connor Norby and got Jesús Sánchez to line out to right.
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias pitched the last two innings to earn his 32nd save, marking his sixth appearance of two innings this season.
“It’s not the same pitching two innings as one,” Iglesias said in Spanish. “When you come in the eighth, you have to approach it with more calm. Then in the ninth, you come out with more aggression and complete the job, which is getting two scoreless innings.”
Pierce Johnson (6-5) secured the win by getting the three outs in the sixth inning.
“That was a grind-out game,” said Braves catcher Sean Murphy. “We used the whole bullpen. It was back and forth. They never rolled over on us. It was one of those games that it was fun to play and fun to win.”
The Marlins tied the game at 4-4 with back-to-back home runs from Norby and Sánchez to start the sixth inning. However, Miami (57-99) went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position, and Atlanta won the season series 9-4.
“We were clawing our way back the whole game and just couldn’t get a swing when we needed it,” Norby said.
Harris hit a tying RBI triple and then scored on Olson’s single in the fifth, which erased a 2-1 deficit.
Urshela hit his second consecutive home run with a solo shot in the sixth, extending Atlanta’s lead.
Jake Burger hit a solo home run off Braves starter Grant Holmes, giving the Marlins a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning. Miami tied the game at 1-1 when Jonah Bride homered in the second.
Holmes allowed two runs and three hits in four-plus innings, walking one and striking out five.
Albies, who returned from the injured list on Friday after missing two months due to a left wrist fracture, gave Atlanta an early lead with his solo homer in the first. He drove an 0-1 pitch from Marlins starter Darren McCaughan over the left field wall for his ninth homer.
“The more at-bats he gets, the better he’s going to be,” Snitker said. “It’s about seeing the breaking ball and the spin.”
McCaughan allowed one run and four hits over four innings. The right-hander walked one, struck out five, and hit a batter.
In their last home game of the season, the Marlins had a crowd of 20,104, bringing their total attendance to 1,085,055, which ranks 29th in Major League Baseball, ahead of only the Oakland A’s.
The Marlins had 1,162,819 fans in 2023, when the team ended a 20-year playoff drought over a 162-game season.
Sunday might have also been Skip Schumaker’s last home game as the Marlins manager. The club and Schumaker, the reigning NL Manager of the Year, agreed before the season to cancel the third year of his contract.
