Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna homered for the third straight game, one of three home runs hit by the visiting Braves en route to a 5-3 win over the Miami Marlins to open a three-game set on Friday.
Dansby Swanson and Travis d’Arnaud added solo home runs for the Braves, who have 50 long balls for the season, the fifth highest-total in the majors. Ozuna went 2-for-5 and extended his hitting streak to seven games, during which he is batting .310 (9-for-29).
Atlanta’s Charlie Morton (3-3) turned in his third consecutive solid outing. Morton, making his 300th career appearance, pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
Collin McHugh (two-thirds of an inning), Spencer Strider (one inning) and A.J. Minter (one inning) each followed with a scoreless appearance. Will Smith worked around a leadoff hit batsman in the ninth inning to earn his second save.
Miami starter Trevor Rogers (2-5) was knocked out after four innings. He allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks with five strikeouts. His career record against Atlanta dropped to 0-5.
Louis Head (three innings), Dylan Floro (one inning) and Steven Okert (one inning) held the Braves scoreless and limited them to one hit over the final five innings.
Atlanta scored three times in the first inning. Ozzie Albies drove in the first run with a single and Ozuna followed with a two-run homer to left, his eighth. It was the first home run all season by an Atlanta batter in the No. 5 spot in the lineup.
Swanson hit a solo homer in the second inning, his fifth.
Miami cut the lead to 4-1 in the second on an RBI single from Bryan De La Cruz, but the Braves got the run back in the third on d’Arnaud’s solo homer, his fourth.
Miami’s Jorge Soler, who had missed the previous three games with a sore back, hit a 413-foot two-run shot, his eighth, to make it a 5-3 game in the sixth. The Marlins had runners at second and third but McHugh stranded both.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. went 2-for-4 and extended his on-base streak to 27 games with a game-opening double.
–Field Level Media
