ATLANTA — Mother Nature only delayed the inevitable.
After waiting out a nearly two-hour weather delay in the middle of the fifth inning, the Miami Marlins were swept by the Atlanta Braves on Sunday after dropping the series finale 7-1 at Truist Park. The Marlins dropped the first two games of the series 8-1 on Friday and 2-1 on Saturday.
The Marlins are now 55-78 on the season. They have lost seven consecutive games, and nine of their last 10. They are 12-30 since the All-Star Break. Miami has scored 3 runs or fewer in 35 of 42 games since the All-Star Break.
The Braves’ Max Fried had a no-hitter intact after five innings when the delay began. The only baserunner he had allowed was a leadoff walk in the fifth to Nick Fortes, which was erased when Joey Wendle hit into an inning-ending double play just before the groundscrew came out to put the tarp on the field to initiate a nearly two-hour stoppage.
Atlanta (84-51) being forced to go to the bullpen for the final four innings did little to help the Marlins.
They broke up the no-hitter on Miguel Rojas’ two-out single against Jesse Chavez in the sixth and broke up the shutout on Wendle’s RBI single through the left side against Collin McHugh in the eighth that scored Jerar Encarnacion, who singled and reached second on a fielding error.
A JJ Bleday two-out, pinch-hit walk brought the potential game-tying run to the plate for the Marlins, but Charles Leblanc struck out swinging to strand Wendle and Bleday.
The Braves had a 2-0 lead at the time of the delay on a Dansby Swanson sacrifice fly in the third and a Marcell Ozuna home run in the fourth.
The extended stoppage ended Marlins pitcher Pablo Lopez’s start after those four innings. Lopez had struck out seven and was only at 75 pitches.
The Braves tacked on two more runs in the sixth on a Michael Harris II single — the third consecutive hit to lead off the inning against Jeff Brigham — and a wild pitch before they scored three more runs in the eighth against Andrew Nardi and Cole Sulser.
Up next
The Marlins are off Monday before starting a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday. Miami is scheduled to have Jesus Luzardo (3-6, 3.44 ERA) start the series opener, followed by Trevor Rogers (4-10, 5.57) on Wednesday and Sandy Alcantara (12-7, 2.36) on Thursday.
