Streaking Braves beat Marlins 6-3 to complete sweep
ATLANTA - Spencer Strider knew better than to panic when facing an early two-run deficit.
With the Atlanta Braves' bats backing him, Strider had good reason to remain confident on the mound.
Ozzie Albies' two-run homer in the fifth gave Atlanta the lead and the Braves charged back to beat the Miami Marlins 6-3 on Sunday for their 16th win in 17 games.
"It just gives you confidence you don't have to be perfect," Strider said of the Braves' offense, which outscored the Marlins 29-7 in the three-game sweep. "Having an offense like we do should make you more confident. ... It's unbelievable what our offense is capable of doing. Like today, we fell behind, but I just knew if I could just keep us in the game long enough, we're going to come through, and we did."
The Braves won their eighth straight to extend their lead over second-place Miami in the NL East to nine games. Atlanta has won 10 in a row at home and 23 of 26 overall.
"It's huge. It's still early in the season, but they're all big games," Strider said. "We try to show up every game and try to just kind of be as level-headed as we can. We kind of think of the first half as practice for the second half anyway. We like where we are and we're doing a good job of treating each day as its own certain task."
Travis d'Arnaud's two-run homer off Andrew Nardi in the eighth extended Atlanta's lead to three runs.
Luis Arráez drove in two runs with two hits, lifting his batting average to .389. Arráez gave Miami a 2-0 lead with a double that drove in Jonathan Davis in the second inning. Arráez added a run-scoring single in the seventh to trim the Braves' lead to 4-3.
Strider (10-2) stuck out nine while allowing six hits and three runs, two earned, in 6 2/3 innings. Raisel Iglesias pitched a perfect ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.
The Braves' 23-3 stretch includes nine straight series wins against such teams as Cincinnati, Minnesota, Arizona and the New York Mets. The Marlins were coming off a sweep of Boston before falling to 1-9 this season against Atlanta.
"We went into a lot of series against some really good teams playing really well," said Braves manager Brian Snitker. "They don't get caught up in all that. They're about today's game."
Strider struck out five consecutive batters before Albies bobbled a grounder by Davis with two outs in the seventh for an error. Strider left the game after walking Jacob Stallings, and Davis scored on a single by Arráez off A.J. Minter.
Orlando Arcia's homer in the second gave Atlanta its first run.
Michael Harris II singled to lead off Atlanta's three-run fifth. Harris stole second, moved to third on catcher Stallings' throwing error and scored on Sandy Alcantara's wild pitch. Acuña walked and scored on Albies' 20th homer, which barely cleared the right-field wall.
