Marlins struggle to get a key hit, end the home schedule with a 5-4 loss to the Braves

Bases loaded, no outs, and the top of the order coming up.

Trailing the Braves by a run in the seventh inning Sunday, the Marlins were poised to take the lead, or at least pull even.

They did neither.

Xavier Edwards struck out swinging against reliever Aaron Bummer, Connor Norby did the same against Daysbel Hernández, and Jesús Sánchez lined out to right field off Hernández.

The Marlins lost their final home game of the season, 5-4, to their wild card-contending NL East rival. They left seven runners on base in the game and were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

“Tough that we couldn’t get that one [run],” Norby said. “We were clawing our way back the whole game and just couldn’t get a swing when we needed it. But that shows the character of this team, really. Were always in it, usually one swing away.”

“It’s a tough game to lose,” said Marlins’ manager Skip Schumaker. “We had so many opportunities. The right guys up, different guys up to potentially just put a ball in play and you at least score one, if not multiple runs — have a chance to not only tie it but to break open a game.”

The Braves scored what wound up being the winning run on Jorge Soler’s infield single in the seventh. Soler hit a sharp grounder back to the mound right at reliever Declan Cronin, who couldn’t catch the ball cleanly and lost sight of it after it popped out of his glove.

Marlins right-hander Darren McCaughan made his fifth career start and allowed one run and four hits in four innings. He also struck out five, settling down following a rocky first inning.

After the second batter he faced, Ozzie Albies, tagged him with a 414-foot solo home run to left field, McCaughan gave up a single to Marcell Ozuna, walked Matt Olson and hit Soler with an inside changeup to load the bases.

That brought up Ramón Laureano, who struck a grounder down the third-base line. Norby fielded the ball, stepped on the bag, and fired across the diamond for an inning-ending double play.

“We needed that double play badly to get out of that inning because they were a swing away from just jumping on us right out the gate,” Norby said.

“It was huge,” McCaughan said of the double play. “Sometimes you just need something like that to get things going the right way.”

The Marlins drew even the next inning when Jonah Bride took Braves starter Grant deep to left with the two outs. That gave Bride a hit in 15 of his past 20 games.

In the fourth, Jake Burger crushed a curveball from Holmes into the left-field seats to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Burger’s 28th home run of the season was his third long ball in this six-game homestand after a 21-game drought. After ending the slump Tuesday, Burger admitted that he had been trying too hard for a second consecutive 30-homer season.

“I’ve kind of come to terms with it’s OK not to get to 30,” he said Sunday. “If it happens, it happens. You want to get your individual goals or accolades, but for me it’s about winning ball games and finishing these [final] six games strong.”

The Braves regained the lead Sunday with two runs on three hits off reliever Mike Baumann in the fifth inning. Bride walked and Griffin Conine doubled to lead off the bottom half, but Vidal Bruján and Nick Fortes struck out swinging, and Xavier Edwards grounded out, leaving them stranded.

“There’s just value in putting balls in play,” Schumaker said. “They had to make pitches and they did, but we beat ourselves as well.”

Gio Urshela homered off Xzavion Curry in the sixth to extend the Braves’ lead to 4-2. The Marlins’ erased that their next turn at-bat. Norby and Jesús Sánchez led off with back-to-back homers off reliever Pierce Johnson — the seventh pair of back-to-back homers for the Marlins this season and first since Burger and Bridge on Aug. 9 against the Padres.

The Marlins’ four home runs Sunday were the most they have hit in a game since four against the Braves on Sept. 17, 2023. Still, it wasn’t enough. They finished with a home record of 30-51 this season.

Because Schumaker and the Marlins mutually agreed last winter to void the 2025 team option on his contract, Sunday’s game may have been his last at loanDepot park — a reality he pondered.

“Yeah, I absolutely did. It’s kind of a weird moment, personally, in my career because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Schumaker said. “Extremely grateful that I was given an opportunity to manage the Miami Marlins, even if it is a couple of years and that’s the direction it ends up. Because someone had to take a chance on me first. And I’ll never forget that.

“So, I don’t know if it’s the end or not, but I’m super grateful someone took a shot on me,” Schumaker continued. “It was a lot of learning. A lot of up and down the last couple of years. But it was also exciting. I built a lot of friendships here. ... You’ll have these relationships forever. And that’s what the game is about. It was never about me and my contract. I never wanted to make that a thing. I know [the news] got out earlier in the year, but I just never want it to be a distraction. That’s the last thing I want it to be. … But we’ll see what happens. We still have a week left.”