*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
The core of the Atlanta Braves is the exact reason why they shouldn't be dismissed as a non playoff team yet. Because they'll overpower you. Freddie Freeman homered, Ozzie Albies hit an RBI double, and the Braves shut out the Miami Marlins 5-0 on Friday night.
Charlie Morton got the start for Atlanta, and performed brilliantly, throwing 7 shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks, while recording 7 strikeouts, improving to 8-3 this season. After Morton departed, Luke Jackson came on and worked the 8th, and Jesse Chavez closed things out in the 9th inning.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said "That was awesome, that was really, really good. He probably could have kept going, really. His stuff was really good, and the fastball was jumping out of his hand. Everything was just really crisp tonight."
Morton, however, credits it to catcher Kevan Smith, saying "Kevan did a great job. It seemed like they were sitting on the curveball a lot. And I don’t know if that’s true, but it seemed like it. Smith was calling for more changeups than normal. So we mixed that in and was a little more aggressive with the fastball even later in the counts, and I still had a pretty good breaking ball. I think I threw fewer breaking balls than my last outing against them."
Freeman got the Braves scoring started immediately, with a solo homer in the first inning, making it 1-0 Braves early in the game. It stayed that way all the way to the 7th inning, when an Albies RBI double and an RBI triple from Austin Riley made it a 3-0 lead for Atlanta. In the 8th, Orlando Arcia hit an RBI double, and Dansby Swanson added an RBI single in the 9th, sealing the win.
Anthony Bass took the loss for the Marlins, serving as a one inning opener, allowing the solo homer to Freeman. After Bass left, it was recently called up Shawn Morimando who provided the bulk work, allowing just 3 hits and 4 walks, striking out 5 hitters across 5 shutout innings pitched. Anthony Bender, Zach Pop, and Steven Okert also pitched.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly said of the recent pitching success that "It's been good from Jordan to Nick to Morimando. It's been nice to get that. That could've been going a different direction. But all three of those guys really did a great job and really probably put us in a better position these last couple of days, obviously getting to the break, to be able to use the guys we want to use if we can get ourselves in the right position."
The Braves and Marlins continue their series today, with Max Fried getting the ball for Atlanta, and Trevor Rogers starting for Miami.
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