Drake Baldwin blasts two homers as Braves overtake Marlins

Drake Baldwin blasts two homers as Braves overtake Marlins

Rookie Drake Baldwin hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Atlanta Braves erased a four-run deficit to beat the visiting Miami Marlins 8-6 on Thursday in the opener of a five-game series.Atl

Rookie Drake Baldwin hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Atlanta Braves erased a four-run deficit to beat the visiting Miami Marlins 8-6 on Thursday in the opener of a five-game series.

Atlanta ended a three-game losing streak and evened the season series against the Marlins at 3-3. The Braves had lost five in a row at home.

After trailing 6-2 through four innings., Atlanta cut the deficit to one in the sixth on Baldwin’s three-run homer.

Baldwin tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh, then scored to go-ahead run on Marcell Ozuna’s infield hit and a throwing error by shortstop Otto Lopez.

The Braves got an insurance run in the eighth when Jonathan Ornelas singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Baldwin went 3-for-5 with his 12th and 13th homers.

Braves reliever Pierce Johnson (3-3) threw a scoreless seventh inning. Raisel Iglesias worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his 15th save.

Marlins reliever Josh Simpson (2-1) allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit and one walk in one-third of an inning.

Neither starter received a decision. Miami’s Eury Perez worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits — three of them home runs — with two walks and one strikeout. Atlanta’s Carlos Carrasco pitched 5 2/3 innings and yielded six runs on nine hits and two walks with two strikeouts.

The Braves got back-to-back solo homers from Baldwin and Ozuna, his 16th, in the first inning.

The Marlins erased the deficit with a five-run rally in the second, getting an RBI single from Jakob Marsee, a two-run triple from Eric Wagaman and a two-run homer from Graham Pauley, his third.

Agustin Ramirez added an RBI single in the fourth to increase Miami’s lead to 6-2.

Baldwin hit his second homer in the sixth, a three-run shot that traveled 422 feet and pulled the Braves within 6-5.