Serna’s two-run double and Conine’s late homer carry Marlins past Braves 5-3

Miami turned one swing game into a three-run cushion

For five innings, this had the shape of a narrow, low-hit game. Mauricio Dubón gave Atlanta its first lead with a solo shot to left-centre in the third, and Miami answered an inning later when Heriberto Hernandez homered to the same part of the park. Neither club did much on the scoreboard after that until the sixth, when the Marlins finally pieced together the sequence that decided the afternoon.

J.R. Ritchie kept Atlanta in it for much of his 5 2/3 innings, but Miami found the opening before the Braves could get to the late frames. Hernandez, who finished 2-for-4 with two runs scored, was in the middle of it again when Esteury Ruiz singled to centre to bring him home for a 2-1 lead. Moments later, Jared Serna drove a double to left that scored both Deyvison De Los Santos and Ruiz, pushing the margin to 4-1.

That burst mattered because neither lineup was especially efficient over the full nine innings. Miami left 11 runners on base, and Atlanta stranded 13, so the game did not hinge on volume alone. It hinged on which club got the cleanest extra-base hit with men aboard, and in the sixth inning that belonged to Serna.

Atlanta made its move, and Conine shut the door on the comeback mood

The Braves did not disappear after falling behind by three. In the seventh, they cut directly into the lead. Ha-Seong Kim came home on DaShawn Keirsey Jr.’s groundout to shortstop, then Brewer Hicklen scored when Dubón lined a single to right. Suddenly the Marlins’ three-run edge was down to 4-3, and Atlanta had found life despite managing only five hits all day.

Miami’s response was immediate and decisive. Conine opened the bottom of the seventh with a home run to right, measured at 415 feet, restoring the two-run margin at 5-3. It was the Marlins’ second long ball of the day after Hernandez’s earlier shot, and it arrived at exactly the point when the game threatened to tilt back toward Atlanta.

That answer also clarified the value of Miami’s bullpen work outside the shaky seventh. Janson Junk gave the Marlins 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts. Michael Petersen followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings, Josh Ekness handled the eighth, and Sandy Alcantara finished the ninth as Miami closed out its one-save win. Calvin Faucher’s inning was the one rough patch, but the Marlins insulated it by answering on the next turn.

Our take: the Marlins found the fuller offence; the Braves wasted too many openings

Atlanta’s line tells a frustrating story. The Braves scored three runs, but only one went down as an extra-base hit: Dubón’s solo homer. Sean Murphy added two singles, Hicklen scored once, and Kim reached twice on walks and scored, yet the offence never built sustained damage from its traffic. Thirteen runners left on base with five total hits is the kind of combination that usually leaves a game sitting just out of reach, and that is exactly what happened here.

There is also a clear split in who carried the production. Dubón had two hits and drove in two. Murphy had two hits. The rest of the Atlanta lineup combined for one hit. That does not mean the Braves were absent from the game — the seventh inning proved otherwise — but it does suggest where improvement starts. More support from the middle and more timely contact with men aboard would have changed the shape of this result far more than one late rally did.

Miami, for its part, produced the sturdier offensive profile even with missed chances of its own. The Marlins had eight hits, four of them for extra bases, and got contributions from several spots: Hernandez homered and scored twice, Serna drove in two from the lower half of the order, Ruiz added an RBI single, and Conine delivered the last big blow. If there is a caution in the win, it is that a 4-1 lead became a one-run game in the seventh and 11 runners were stranded. Still, the broader takeaway is favourable for Miami: when the opening appeared in the sixth, the Marlins landed the hardest punch of the game and then backed it up with one more when Atlanta finally pressed back.

Scoring moments

1. 3rd Inning

   Dubón homered to left center (385 feet).

2. 4th Inning

   Hernández homered to left center (395 feet).

3. 6th Inning

   Ruiz singled to center, Hernández scored.

4. 6th Inning

   Serna doubled to left, De Los Santos scored and Ruiz scored.

5. 7th Inning

   Keirsey Jr. grounded out to shortstop, Kim scored, Hicklen to second.

6. 7th Inning

   Dubón singled to right, Hicklen scored.

7. 7th Inning

   Conine homered to right (415 feet).