The Miami Marlins put on a show against the Atlanta Braves for a second consecutive day with a 9-3 victory.
The win was Miami's 11th at home on the year giving them the most wins at home in Major League Baseball. The Marlins have only lost four times at Marlins Park but they are 2-10 on the road which has put them in the basement of the National League East.
Still, the 13-14 record on the year is a vast improvement over 2013 when it took the team until May 20th to pick up a 13th victory.
Nathan Eovaldi followed up the effort by Jose Fernandez in a big way by going seven innings in which he only allowed three hits and one run. Eovaldi was in control from the start of the game striking out five and walking one. At 94 pitches and with a big lead, manager Mike Redmond elected to go to the pen after seven innings.
If the game is closer, it's likely that the right-hander could've gone one more frame. A.J. Ramos pitched the eighth for Miami in scoreless fashion. Brad Hand worked the ninth inning and allowed two runs on a pair of hits.
With the bats, the Marlins were on fire scoring four runs in the second inning and then never slowing down. The nine runs all came against Aaron Harang who had entered the game with a 0.85 E.R.A only to leave with a 2.97 mark.
Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run home run in that inning, his fourth blast of the year. Christian Yelich would also homer later in the game for the first time this year. That home run was a two-run long ball and extended the lead to 7-0 at the time.
Sports
Casey McGehee picked up three hits including his sixth double of the year and also scored two runs. That double was one of four by Miami in the game with the others coming from Jarrod Saltalamacchia (6), Giancarlo Stanton (8) and Adeiny Hechavarria (6). The Marlins shortstop also tripled which was his third of the year. In all, the Marlins had five players with multi-hit games including Garrett Jones who had two hits to go with a pair of runs batted in.
Up 9-0 in the fifth inning, the Marlins challenged an out call at second base when Hechavarria slid in ahead of a tag. Miami won the challenge and the shortstop was ruled safe at second base at that point to make Redmond 4-5 on challenge attempts this year.
Miami will try to complete the sweep of first place Atlanta on Thursday with Henderson Alvarez scheduled to be on the mound.
