Agustin Ramirez hit a home run and drove in four runs to help the visiting Miami Marlins break out of a slump and beat the Atlanta Braves 10-4 on Monday in the opener of their three-game series.
The Marlins scored only three runs over the weekend while suffering a three-game sweep against Detroit. On Monday, the Marlins banged out 16 hits and scored ten runs for the second time this season.
Ramirez, who had gone 1-for-12 against the Tigers, turned it around against Atlanta. He went 3-for-4 with a walk. He hit a 420-foot three-run homer, his first, and added an RBI single on an infield grounder.
The winning pitcher was Andrew Nardi (1-0). Aaron Bummer (0-1) suffered the loss.
Neither starter figured in the decision. Atlanta’s Grant Holmes was lifted after throwing 59 pitches in four innings. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Miami’s Eury Perez was knocked out of the game after allowing the first two runs to reach in the fifth. He allowed four runs on seven hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Miami broke through for three runs in the fourth inning. The Marlins cashed in on a sacrifice fly by Liam Hicks, an RBI single from Otto Lopez and an RBI single by Connor Norby. Hicks went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs.
But the Braves got all three runs back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Atlanta got RBI singles from Austin Riley and Mike Yastrzemski and a sacrifice fly from Dominic Smith.
The Marlins struck quickly in the fifth against southpaw reliever Bummer on Ramirez’s three-run shot to left-center.
The Braves got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on Riley’s infield grounder.
But the Marlins responded with another three-run outburst in the sixth to take a 9-3 lead. Norby homered, his second, on the first pitch from Rolddy Munoz, Ramirez pushed home another run with an infield grounder, and Jakob Marsee knocked in a run on a single that deflected off Munoz.
