Dietrich homers in Marlins 6-4 win over Braves
MIAMI (AP) Derek Dietrich's bat and Dee Gordon's legs helped fuel the Miami Marlins' offense.
Dietrich hit a two-run homer and Gordon stole three bases to help Miami end the Atlanta Braves' winning streak at seven games, winning 6-4 on Saturday night.
''That's how we really want it to go most nights,'' Gordon said. ''We've been scuffling a little bit so to have everybody clicking with getting guys over, timely hitting is good for us.''
Gordon had two hits, two walks and his stolen base total was one shy of tying the Marlins' single-game franchise high, which he has done on two separate occasions.
''When Dee is able to get on and being able to impact it like that, it puts pressure on the pitcher and the defense,'' Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ''What I liked about tonight was that he was willing to take his walks. You really want your leadoff guy to get on base and it doesn't matter how.''
Atlanta's Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to 28 games in the first inning and has reached base in 44 straight. He also hit a solo home run in the sixth, his 32nd.
''It feels good,'' Freeman said. ''Obviously, I've worked really hard and things are clicking right now. I'm getting pitches to hit and I'm not missing them.''
Brian Ellington (4-2) earned the win in relief and A.J. Ramos recorded his 39th save in 42 chances.
The Braves pulled within 5-4 on a wild pitch by Fernando Rodney in the seventh inning.
''We gave ourselves a chance,'' Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. ''We kept fighting back - a guy on and we're swinging away from taking the lead.''
J.T. Realmuto beat out an infield hit in the seventh to push the Miami lead to 6-4, and Kyle Barraclough and Ramos retired all six batters they faced to seal the win and end a three-game losing streak.
Miami jumped to an early 2-1 lead on Dietrich's two-run homer to right field in the first inning.
The Marlins extended their lead to 5-2 with a pair of runs in the fourth including a sacrifice fly by Marcell Ozuna.
Both starting pitchers exited before the fifth inning. Miami's Wei-Yin Chen allowed two runs in four innings and Atlanta's Aaron Blair (1-7) allowed five runs over 3 1/3 innings.
''I just didn't have the command that I had five days ago,'' Blair said. ''I got myself in trouble walking the leadoff hitter two of the four innings. I put myself in bad counts in those situations.''
MARLINS SPEED
The Marlins stole five bases. Yefri Perez and Realmuto also stole a base off catcher Anthony Recker.
''Just getting good pitches to run on,'' Gordon said. ''Just trying to manufacture runs that way because our field is really big and a lot of us aren't going to hit a lot of home runs.''
The five steals are the most since the Marlins stole five against Pittsburgh on Aug. 25, 2015.
DIETRICH CATCH
Dietrich made a catch falling into the stands down the first-base line on a pop-up by Recker in the eighth inning.
UP NEXT
Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (6-10, 3.10 ERA) will start Sunday's series finale. Teheran allowed one run in seven innings in his last start, a 5-4 win at the New York Mets.
Marlins: LHP Adam Conley (8-6, 3.94) will pitch in place of RHP Jose Fernandez on Sunday, with Fernandez bumped to start Monday against the Mets.