Big Bear’s brilliant blast bails out Braves in 9-7 bashing of Marlins

Nietzsche once wrote that the abyss gazes into those that gaze into it, but on Sunday afternoon, Marcell Ozuna gazed into the abyss of what could have been a ridiculous series loss in Miami, and then pretty much said, “Screw that!” and mashed a seraphic three-run homer to deliver unto the Braves a 9-7 win instead.

• Box Score

As expected, this game had a lot of twists and turns, but it all really came down to that Ozuna homer, so let’s embed the clip of it at the front, because it’s really what the game was about.

As for the rest of the game, well... read on, if you happened to miss it, I guess.

Charlie Morton and Jesus Luzardo exchanged perfect frames in the first, but the Braves struck in the second. Matt Olson blooped in a ball to right to start the inning, and then Ozuna righteously destroyed a get-me-over 3-1 sinker. However, the ball smashed off the wall in the center field, putting runners on the corners. Adam Duvall followed suit by lifting a very hard-hit drive into the left-field corner, but it was caught by Nick Gordon and went for a measly sacrifice fly rather than a three-run homer. The Marlins answered right back, as perhaps surprisingly, it was righty batter Bryan de la Cruz that tormented Morton and tagged him for a solo shot with one out.

The Braves, though, went right back to work. Ronald Acuña Jr. worked out a one-out walk in the third, stole second, and scored on an Ozzie Albies grounder that was misthrown by third baseman Jake Burger. The Braves then got a more conventional third run when Albies also stole second and scored on Olson’s grounder through the left side. Duvall then led off the fourth with a homer, his first of the year, and Michael Harris II followed with a ringing grounder double to right center. Acuña later flared a ball into center, scaring Harris and giving the Braves a 5-1 lead.

Morton had literally allowed just the de la Cruz homer and no other baserunners to that point, but did not fare as well against the lefty-laden Miami lineup the second time through. Josh Bell led off the bottom of the fourth with a weird lofted double into the left-field corner. On the one hand, it didn’t get out of the park, but on the other hand, it probably would’ve been easily caught if it was anywhere other than a place where Duvall had to try and catch it without getting killed by the wall. After Morton collected a strikeout, Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed by barreling a ball into right. Acuña also made a jumping attempt on it but couldn’t flag it down. A bloop by de la Cruz into center made it a 5-3 game, but Morton was able to escape the inning.

But then, things turned sinister. Vidal Brujan led off the fifth with an opposite-field double, and Nick Fortes lined a single to center to put the tying runs on base with none out. In Morton’s last start, he had a three-run lead, didn’t retire the 17th and 18th batters he faced, and then gave up a three-run homer to (lefty) batter number 19. This time, he had a two-run lead, didn’t retire the 17th and 18th batters he faced... and got (lefty) batter number 19, Luis Arraez, to hit into a double play. And then he struck out Bell by getting him to chase a curveball in the dirt. Not quite deja vu, all over again, but the lead was down to a run.

With Luzardo replaced by Sixto Sanchez in the sixth (did he pitch the sixth because his name is Sixto?!) the Braves had a big opportunity brewing — Sanchez plunked Duvall and then walked Arcia. But, Harris struck out, and despite the one-run nature of the game, the Braves opted not to pinch-hit Jarred Kelenic for Chadwick Tromp. (They also didn’t pinch-hit Kelenic for Duvall earlier in the inning.) The Braves’ third-string catcher then promptly hit into a double play, and there went that rally.

Morton, though, stayed in for the bottom of the sixth, and promptly issued a leadoff walk. Welp. (At least the walk was to a righty batter, Emmanuel Rivera, who replaced Burger after the latter departed with an oblique injury.) Morton battled back to strike out Chisholm, and a soft groundout from de la Cruz advanced Rivera to second. Morton stayed in despite another lefty batter due up, and said lefty batter hit a 112 mph single up the middle, tying the game. It was only then that Morton was pulled, in favor of Dylan Lee, and the abyss opened up ‘neath the feet of Lee and his teammates, because this happened:

To be clear: this was a sub-100 mph, 340-foot homer in a lefty-lefty matchup that gave the Marlins their fifth and sixth theretofore-unanswered runs, and boy, that abyss was looking particularly onyx at this point.

The Braves did clamber back a little in the seventh, against Anthony “Beckham it Like” Bender. A couple of two-out grounders by Austin Riley and Olson became singles, and then Ozuna unloaded once again, smashing an off-the-plate, down-and-in sinker... off the top of the left-field wall for an RBI double. If Olson wasn’t the guy on first, or if that ball actually clears the fence, or if it bounces away from Gordon in left field, the game would have been tied, but no dice... especially because Bender struck out Duvall (where was Kelenic?) to end the inning.

The next three half-innings were thrown by Joe Jimenez, Andrew Nardi, and A.J. Minter, and had little of note. Nardi and Minter, both southpaws, struck out their respective sides — Nardi was three pitches away from an immaculate inning, and Minter just a single pitch off that mark.

So, we came to the fateful ninth. You already know how it ends, but the widening maw of the abyss had become uncomfortably gargantuan by this point. Yes, Acuña collected a leadoff single, but Miami closer Tanner Scott struck out Albies. Riley then absolutely crushed a ball to center... but because it was to dead center, it was hit right at Chisholm. So, next came Olson, and Scott walked him on four pitches to bring up Ozuna, and hey, you know how this ends, but watch it again, on the house:

Oscar Wilde once wrote that hearts were made to be broken, but clearly, Ozuna didn’t care for that sentiment today. (He also probably doesn’t care for the walls that keep impeding him from collecting more and more homers.)

Raisel Iglesias wrapped up the ninth in easy fashion, and the Braves notched not only their ninth win of the 2024 season, but yet another epic comeback that has become a hallmark of this team and its mashing ways in recent years. Sure, the in-game tactics and pitching decisions might cause consternation, but apparently, this team will just mash its way past all that, just like Ozuna did today.

Morton had a strange outing in this one — while he largely dominated the Marlins with an 8/1 K/BB ratio, he still couldn’t escape all the drama forcing a tie game when the order rolled back around for a third time, though it wasn’t really his fault in many cases. Every Braves starter except Tromp reached base at least once, and the Braves avoided, thanks to Ozuna’s heroics, what would’ve been a crazy loss in terms of xwOBA margin between the two teams.