Florida Marlins beat Atlanta Braves 4-0 as Javier Vazquez nears record – MLB Update
Javier Vazquez pitched seven scoreless innings to allow the Florida Marlins to beat Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Wednesday, September 21 and win the three-game series 2-1 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, Florida.
Vazquez displayed immense accuracy and variety in his spell to disallow a single-run to the Braves, giving away just two hits to complete his 12th win of the season. Having improved their margin to three-games in the Wild Card standings, Atlanta
dropped 1.5 games subsequent to this loss after the St. Louis Cardinals registered a win in their game against New York Mets on September 21.
Gaby Sanchez drove in a double to centre-field in the second inning to allow Mike Stanton a run and give Marlins a one-run lead in the series finale. Brett Hayes then unleashed his arms in the sixth inning to double the lead with a home-run towards left-flank.
Vazquez extended his streak of scoreless innings to 25 after this game, sending a strong signal to various teams of his strength and versatility for the next season. He is now just 1.2 innings away from creating history for the Marlins.
Marlins are trailing at the bottom of National League East and have little other than personal glory to play for. The Braves, on the contrary, have just six games remaining in the regular season and will have to strive hard to contain their lead in the Wild
Card standings.
Stanton scored his second run of the game in the sixth inning to give Florida an upper-hand in the game and reduce odds of Atlanta making a comeback. Logan Morrison’s home-run in the eighth sealed the encounter in Florida’s favour and sent the Braves tattering.
Derek Lowe leaked three runs and six hits in his 6.1 innings for the Braves to lose his 16th start of the season. If the Braves make it through to the playoffs, the possibility of Lowe featuring in the rotation remains on the lower side.
With three games against a refurbished Washington Nationals side followed by another three against Philadelphia Phillies, it is expected that the Wild Card race will go to the wire for the Braves. Chipper Jones, however, still believes that Atlanta will
make it through. It will be interesting to see how intense the competition gets over the next week.
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