Atlanta Braves vs Miami Marlins Box Score on Aug 18, 2021

Freddie Freeman posted just the seventh cycle in Atlanta Braves history, leading his team to an 11-9 win over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.

The Marlins scored six runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it close, a rally capped by Jesus Sanchez's two-run homer.

Atlanta's Will Smith struck out ex-Braves catcher Alex Jackson with two runners on to end the game.

Miami's pitchers tied a franchise record with 12 walks, including five that drove in runs.

The first-place Braves have won six straight games and 13 of 15.

Freeman, who has the last two Braves cycles, started his work on Wednesday with a double in the first. He tripled in the fourth -- his first three-bagger since Aug. 9, 2020. Freeman singled in the fifth and homered 405 feet to center in the sixth to complete the cycle.

Marlins center fielder Bryan De La Cruz might have caught Freeman's homer, but he jumped too early.

Freeman finished the game going 4-for-5 with two RBIs and one (intentional) walk, raising his batting average to .301. His only out was a fly ball to the warning track in the ninth against catcher Sandy Leon, who tossed a 1-2-3 inning on five pitches.

Braves starter Charlie Morton (12-4), who didn't allow a hit until Isan Diaz's ground-ball single to center with one out in the fifth, earned the win. He struck out nine batters in six innings, allowing three hits, one walk and two runs. He has won 10 of his past 12 decisions.

Miami, which was swept in this three-game series, got just three-plus innings from starter Jesus Luzardo (4-6), who allowed four hits, five walks and four runs in three-plus innings. On one of his walks in the crucial fourth inning, Travis d'Arnaud fouled off five of his pitches.

Freeman's leadoff triple to right started a four-run surge in the fourth. Austin Riley stroked an RBI single. After a Dansby Swanson single, Luzardo walked three straight batters -- all of them on full counts, and that made it 3-0.

Miami brought in reliever Steven Okert, and the Braves closed the scoring in that inning on Ozzie Albie's sacrifice fly.

The Braves padded their lead to 5-0 in the fifth as Freeman singled and scored on Adam Duvall's two-out double off the top of the wall in center.

Miami got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with one out on Diaz's single, Jackson's hit-by-pitch and De La Cruz's single. Jorge Alfaro earned an RBI with his broken-bat groundout, and Miguel Rojas' run-scoring single cut Miami's deficit to 5-2.

But Freeman's two-run homer in the sixth stretched the lead to 7-2, and the Braves cruised until nearly collapsing in the ninth.

--Field Level Media