Minor Unravels in the Rain, Braves Fall to the Fish 6-3

Jul 3, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann (16) celebrates a home run with center fielder B.J. Upton (2) in the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Minor was cruising, and the Braves were up 2-0 in the 5th inning of a game that could get halted at any minute by rain.  Sounds promising, right?  Not so much.

Donovan Solano opened up the 5th with a double and quickly moved to third on a wild pitch by Minor. It appeared Mike might get out of the mess by striking out the next two Marlins hitters which left Solano still standing on third with Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco coming up. Unfortunately, Minor walked Nolasco and proceeded to give up a 3-run homer to Justin Ruggiano, and after that, the Braves never reclaimed the lead.  Minor, who has had issues with giving up the long ball in the past, has given up 7 homers in his last 6 starts while not making it past the 6th inning in any of them and compiling a 4.50 ERA.

On the offensive side of things, Brian McCann continued his homering ways off Ricky Nolasco by launching his 10th homer of the season in the 4th inning to give the Braves a temporary 2-0 lead.  It was the 8th career home run for McCann of Nolasco. The Braves offense didn’t do much else until the 9th, when singles by Freeman, Uggla and Chris Johnson plated the Braves 3rd run.  Tyler Pastornicky then came to the plate to pinch hit as the tying run, but grounded out to end the game with a whimper.

This was the first loss against the Marlins for the Braves this season, as they had won the first four games between the two teams.  The rubber match of the series is tomorrow, but it will be a surprise if they can actually get it in.  It is supposed to rain all day and night tomorrow in Atlanta.