Marlins 4, Braves 0
Javier Vazquez pitched seven shutout innings and the Florida Marlins beat the visiting Atlanta Braves 4-0 to win the rubber game of the three-game series Wednesday night.
Vazquez (12-11) extended his streak of shutout innings to 25 and won his fifth consecutive start. He retired the first 10 batters he faced, allowed only two hits and wound up with six strikeouts.
The Braves had their lead in the NL wild-card race sliced to 1 ½ games over St. Louis, which beat the New York Mets 6-5.
Leo Nunez pitched a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation to finish the game.
Derek Lowe (9-16) lost his fourth straight start, allowing three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. One of the hits was Brett Hayes’ fifth home run in the fifth inning. Logan Morrison hit his 23rd off reliever Anthony Varvaro in the eighth.
Atlanta’s Chipper Jones did not start. He was in Atlanta to be with son, Shea, who was having non-emergency surgery. Jones arrived back in time to pinch hit in the eighth inning and rolled out to second base.