Max Meyer continues dominant start to season as Marlins beat Braves, get first home win

Right-handed pitcher Max Meyer threw six innings of one-run ball against one of the best lineups in baseball as the Miami Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Saturday at loanDepot park.

The Marlins improve to 3-12 on the season and won their first home game of 2024 after dropping each of their first eight games at loanDepot park to begin the campaign. The Braves fall to 8-5.

Meyer, who missed all of the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, worked around six hits and a hit by pitch to put together arguably the best start of his young MLB career. He struck out a career-high seven batters and did not issue a walk despite fall behind in the count 1-0 to 12 of the 24 batters he faced.

“I don’t think he had great first-pitch command, but he got back into the count really quick,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “That’s a really good sign.”

He has gone six innings in each of his past two starts and remains the only Marlins pitcher to complete six innings through the first 15 games of the season.

Of his 91 pitches, 56 were strikes. He got the Braves to whiff on 23 of their 46 swings, including 12 on 23 against his slider, which he used to cap six of his seven strikeouts.

The only run he allowed came in the sixth inning on a Marcell Ozuna groundout that scored Austin Riley, who led off that inning with a triple.

Through three starts this season, Meyer has a 1.69 ERA, allowing just three runs over 13 innings.

“I’m happy that I can be out there and help the team win,” Meyer said. “It’s just great when it’s nine-on-one every single pitch. I count on all my outfielders and all my fielders. I just feel so comfortable and am not thinking too much. This is just the game. I’m attacking and let everything play out.”

Added Schumaker: “He doesn’t scare. He has the ninth-inning mentality. He wants it. He wants the moment. He’s got swing and miss stuff. His slider’s as good as anybody’s. And he’s still developing. He hasn’t pitched in a while. He’s definitely not at his peak yet because I think there’s so much more in there.”

Calvin Faucher, who the Marlins recalled from Triple A Jacksonville ahead of Saturday’s game, pitched a scoreless seventh inning. Anthony Bender followed with a scoreless eighth and Tanner Scott capped the game by pitching the ninth.

The Marlins’ lineup gave its pitching more than enough run support in a rare strong outing against a left-handed starting pitcher by scoring five runs in seven innings off Braves southpaw Chris Sale.

Josh Bell opened scoring with a solo home run in the first inning. Vidal Brujan, who started at shortstop for a second consecutive game with Tim Anderson dealing with an illness, doubled Miami’s lead with an RBI single in the second. And Bryan De La Cruz blew the game open with a three-run double in the fifth.

Entering Saturday, the Marlins had scored just 12 runs (10 earned runs) in 46 1/3 innings over eight games against left-handed starting pitchers.

The Marlins wrap up their three-game series with the Braves at 1:40 p.m. Sunday.