Braves 8, Marlins 0
Evan Gattis homered for the second consecutive night and Jordan Schafer had four hits in his first start of the season to lift visiting Atlanta to its sixth consecutive victory and its best start since 1994.
The Braves, who own the majors’ best record at 8-1, capped a three-game sweep of the struggling Marlins. Gattis, a rookie catcher, blasted a three-run homer off Miami starter Alex Sanabia (1-1) to highlight a six-run fifth inning, and Schafer went 4-for-5 and scored two runs while giving slumping B.J. Upton the night off.
Mike Minor (2-0) scattered five hits in 5 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out four to hand the Marlins their fifth consecutive defeat.
Andrelton Simmons singled home Schafer to snap a scoreless tie in the fifth. Gattis connected on his third homer, a three-run shot to left, to make it 4-0 and Juan Francisco hit his first homer later in the inning to give the Braves a 6-0 advantage.
Placido Polanco went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .333 for Miami, which dropped seven games behind the Braves in the National League East. Sanabia surrendered eight hits and six runs while walking three and striking out four in five innings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Gattis finished 2-for-4 and is hitting .391. … First-year Miami manager Mike Redmond has employed nine different batting orders in the Marlins’ nine games. ... Francisco finished 3-for-4 as the fourth through eighth spots in Atlanta’s lineup went 12-for-22.