Marlins enjoying playing spoiler

MIAMI—Just because the Miami Marlins are going to miss the playoffs doesn’t stop them from putting their fingerprints on the race.

With the Atlanta Braves two games back of the division rival New York Mets in the NL Wild Card race coming into Friday’s series opener against Miami, the Marlins jumped on them for three runs in the first inning and tightroped their way to a 4-3 victory.

Jake Burger, Kyle Stowers, and Jonah Bride drove in one run each against Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton in the opening frame.

The veteran Morton settled down until Connor Norby, standing on third base, dashed home on a wild pitch in the fifth inning to give the Marlins an insurance run, going up 4-2.

That was all the Marlins got, but it was all they needed. Starting pitcher Valente Bellozo danced through raindrops at times, loading the bases in the third inning thanks to an infield single to Michael Harris II, a single to Marcell Ozuna, and a pitch clock violation walk to Matt Olson.

Like he has done most of the season, Bellozo got outs via the fly ball. This time, it was a Jorge Soler fly ball to center field that looked like a go-ahead grand slam. Instead, it fell harmlessly into Stowers’ glove on the warning track for a sacrifice fly. That was the only run Bellozo allowed that inning.

Even when he got beat, Bellozo limited the damage. The two home runs he allowed in the subsequent innings were both solo home runs. He allowed three runs in 5 ⅓ innings.

Anthony Bender, Lake Bachar, Declan Cronin, and Jesús Tinoco combined for 4 ⅔ scoreless innings out of the bullpen.

The Braves led the season series against the Marlins, 7-3, coming into Friday. But that just makes playing spoiler even sweeter.

“You want to play against the best teams,” Kyle Stowers said. “To be the best, you gotta beat the best, right? And so I think it starts there. We want to be a team that's in the playoff mix. And to be in the playoff mix next year, you have to beat good teams."

Stowers went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI Friday and is now on a modest five-game hit streak.

“It just adds a little extra meaning behind the game because we know they're playing for something, so that doesn't mean that we can't find a way to play for something too,” Stowers said.

In defeat, Atlanta's playoff odds dipped to 44.2%, according to FanGraphs, the lowest they've been in four months.