Marlins 4, Braves 0
Fill-in starter Brad Hand pitched six innings and Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in two runs as host Miami won the rubber game of the weekend series.
Christian Yelich extended his hitting streak to 10 games while Donovan Solano and Marcell Ozuna added one RBI each for the Marlins, who remained 4 ½ games back in the race for the final National League wild-card spot. Hand (3-6), taking the injured Henderson Alvarez’s turn in the rotation, pitched outstanding in allowing just five hits with no walks while striking out three.
Julio Teheran (13-11) surrendered four runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings for Atlanta, which fell one-half game behind Pittsburgh for the second wild card and seven in back of Washington in the NL East. The Braves – who have been shut out in four of their past eight contests – finished with five hits, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position to lose for the fifth time in eight games.
Teheran retired 13 hitters in a row before allowing Garrett Jones’ double to left and Saltalamacchia’s run-scoring single to left with two outs in the fifth that put Miami ahead 1-0. Hand retired the first 11 hitters he faced and was able to escape trouble in the middle innings, stranding two runners in the fourth before getting Yelich to run down Evan Gattis’ liner to left with runners on second and third to end the sixth.
Yelich singled leading off the home half of the sixth, stole second and raced home on Solano’s single to center for a 2-0 lead, while Ozuna’s double to center scored Solano and chased Teheran. Saltalamacchia’s sacrifice fly later in the frame off Luis Avilan plated Casey McGehee to establish a four-run advantage.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hand, who had pitched once (three innings of relief on Monday) since Aug. 24, threw 52 of his 74 pitches for strikes. … Teheran recorded his sixth pickoff of the year when he caught Yelich off first base in the first. … Miami, which won the season series from Atlanta 10-9, plays four games at Milwaukee starting Monday while the Braves travel to Washington for three games with the East-leading Nationals.