Marlins drop finale to Braves but show they can compete with NL East’s ‘measuring stick’

Marlins manager Don Mattingly called them “the measuring stick” for the National League East. Garrett Cooper referred to them as “the upper echelon of this division.”

It’s no secret: The Atlanta Braves have been the team to beat in the National League East for the past three years.

“Everybody knows what kind of team they’ve got,” Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar said Monday before the Marlins started their first series against the Braves, “but I think we’ve got a really good team, too.”

And over the past four days, even with a 7-6 walk-off loss on Thursday, the Marlins have shown just how good they can be and that they are closing the gap with the team they have been staring up at for a while now.

The Marlins won the first three games 5-3 (10 innings) on Monday, 14-8 on Tuesday and 6-5 (10 innings) on Wednesday. It was the first time the Marlins took a four-game series from the Braves in Atlanta since 2014.

“It just shows that we can play with anybody,” Cooper said. “I said that earlier this year, but we truly believe it. There’s a lot of talk of, you know, the Marlins are going to finish last and all that stuff in the preseason. You come in with a chip on your shoulder. Everyone’s doing their part. Different guys every game. It’s been a team effort. ... It was a tough one today, but you pick it up and move on to tomorrow.”

But Dansby Swanson’s bases-loaded, walk-off single against Dylan Floro in the bottom of the ninth completed a two-run rally for the Braves to allow Atlanta to salvage the final game of the series and avoid the sweep. Ozzie Albies walked with the bases loaded a plate appearance earlier to force in the tying run.

A two-run home run from Ronald Acuna Jr. off Trevor Rogers in the fifth — his third in the past two days — and a pinch-hit, three-run home run from Pablo Sandoval in the sixth off Zach Pop accounted for the Braves’ other five runs.

The Marlins led 3-0 after the fourth, cut their mid-game deficit to 5-4 in the seventh on a Starling Marte home run and scored two in the top of the ninth on an Adam Duvall RBI double and Cooper RBI single before the Braves rallied for a final time.

It’s the first of six series between the two teams and neither is going to use these four games alone to make judgments about what could happen over the course of a 162-game season.

But one thing is clear: The Marlins have the Braves’ attention.

“What they’re doing is not surprising,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s a good club.”

‘Fire in our eyes’

Marlins players have expressed that sentiment all throughout spring training and are optimistic they’re turning the corner. However, it was hard to deny what a good showing against Atlanta would mean. The Braves have gone 36-12 against the Marlins from 2018-2020 when they won three consecutive division titles.

They also eliminated the Marlins in the National League Division Series round of the playoffs last year to cut Miami’s first postseason appearance since 2003 short.

“We came back with the fire in our eyes,” infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. said. “We didn’t forget what happened last year in the playoffs. We’re showing that we deserve to be talked about in this league. Our team is amazing, our pitching staff is amazing, our defense is amazing, our baserunning, our offense is just amazing as well. We want to show everybody that we’re not a team to mess around with, and I feel like everybody’s seeing that now.”

The Marlins out-hit the Braves 43-31 over the four games and outscored them 31-23 over the set.

Duvall had seven hits in the series, including three home runs and the game-tying double in the ninth on Thursday, along with nine RBI.

“It’s huge, especially against these guys,” Cooper said. “They handed us the last loss of the season last year. They’ve controlled this division.”

‘The division’s tight’

The division, at least early on, now appears to be wide open. The Marlins, at 5-7, are one game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for second in the East. The Mets are in first at 5-3, while the Braves (5-8) and Washington Nationals (3-6) round out the group.

“The division’s tight,” Mattingly said. “You don’t want to be chasing and dig a hole for yourself.”

Winning four of the last five games, dating back to a 3-0 win over the Mets and Jacob deGrom on Saturday, helped with keeping the Marlins from falling behind early.

Now, the Marlins need to take advantage of the next portion of their schedule. Their next 25 games come against teams that had a combined .453 record last season (seven each against the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks, six against the Milwaukee Brewers, three against the Nationals and two against the Baltimore Orioles).

“You look for a break and then hopefully you can take that and harness it and keep it going,” Duvall said. “We were in every single game. It could have easily gone the other way. ... this is a long season. It’s still super early. We’ve got to stay focused.

“We’re gonna be just where we need to be.”