MIAMI — Even the major-league ERA leader can make mistakes, and when he did, the Miami Marlins were ready. ADVERTISING MIAMI — Even the major-league ERA leader can make mistakes, and when he did, the Miami Marlins were ready. Miami
MIAMI — Even the major-league ERA leader can make mistakes, and when he did, the Miami Marlins were ready.
Miami scored nine runs off Aaron Harang, including homers by Marcell Ozuna and Christian Yelich, to drub the Atlanta Braves for the second night in a row Wednesday, 9-3.
Harang (3-2) gave up 10 hits in 4 2-3 innings, and his ERA rose from a major-league low 0.85 to 2.97. The Marlins tied a season high with 15 hits, including seven for extra bases.
“They were all hitting like Ted Williams tonight,” Harang said.
Miami scored only one run against the veteran right-hander in a loss a week earlier in Atlanta.
“When he did give us a pitch to do something with, we did a much better job of not missing it tonight,” said Casey McGehee, who had three hits. “Against him in Atlanta, a lot of the pitches we had to hit we fouled off or missed or took. Tonight we took advantage of our opportunities.”
Ozuna hit a three-run homer, and Yelich added his first home run of the year. The homers were the first allowed by Harang this year.
“Seven days ago to now, it’s a totally different team,” Harang said. “I had them totally baffled at home. They were comfortable today.”
Adeiny Hechavarria legged out a double and a triple for the last-place Marlins, who have outscored the NL East leaders 18-3 in the first two games of their series.
The Marlins will sweep a series from Atlanta for the first time since 2009 if they can beat Ervin Santana today.
Miami’s 9-0 lead after five innings was a rare luxury for Eovaldi (2-1), who has the lowest career run support among active major-league starters. He allowed only three hits and one run in seven innings to lower his ERA to 2.58.
“You try to get the guys back in the dugout as fast as possible and let them keep hitting,” Eovaldi said. “I just attack and stay on them. When we have a big lead, don’t be afraid to give up a run or two. Keep pounding the strike zone.”
The Marlins are batting .215 on the road, where they’re 2-10. But they’re batting .307 in their spacious 2-year-old ballpark, where they’re 11-4 to lead the majors in home victories.
“I love it. Keep it coming,” manager Mike Redmond said. “Maybe we’re starting to see a little change here at home where we’re starting to get comfortable in this ballpark. They’re starting to hit to this ballpark. It’s not about swinging for the fences, because you can’t play like that here.”
The Braves totaled six hits, including Justin Upton’s eighth homer. They’ve totaled five hits in the past two games against Eovaldi and Jose Fernandez.
“We’re big-league hitters. We should be able to put some hits up against those guys,” Chris Johnson said. “They’re really, really good, but at some point, with them being in our division, we’ve got to be able to figure them out. We’ve got to put some runs on the board. There’s no excuse for it.”
Harang had allowed a total of three runs in his first five starts, but the Marlins scored four against him with four consecutive hits to start the second inning. Garrett Jones singled home the first run, and Ozuna followed with his fourth homer.
Hechavarria tripled and Yelich hit a two-run homer in the fourth to make it 7-0.
The nine runs allowed by Harang matched his career high. He fell to 5-5 in 15 starts against the Marlins with an ERA of 6.54.
Eovaldi allowed a double by Jason Heyward to start the game, then held the Braves hitless until the sixth.
DODGERS 6
TWINS 4
MINNEAPOLIS — Zack Greinke pitched six strong innings, Juan Uribe had two RBIs and the Los Angeles Dodgers earned their 10,000th win in franchise history, 6-4 over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
Greinke (5-0) struck out six and didn’t allow an earned run through drizzling rain and temperatures that dipped into the 30s by the end of the game.
With the bases loaded and the Twins trailing 5-1 in the seventh, reliever Chris Withrow got Trevor Plouffe to pop out to shortstop on a 3-0 pitch to end the threat.
Plouffe’s two-run double in the ninth made it 6-4, but Kenley Jansen retired Chris Colabello to earn his 10th save in 12 chances.
The Dodgers join the Giants, Cubs and Braves as the only franchises to win 10,000 games.
ANGELS 7, INDIANS 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Cleveland Indians’ winless road trip was mercifully brief — just six games. The lack of timely offense and sporadic starting pitching only magnified the disappointment for manager Terry Francona.
Zach McAllister didn’t get through the fifth inning Wednesday, giving up a two-run homer to Hank Conger in a 7-1 loss that extended Cleveland’s losing streak to six games. The Indians were held to two hits by C.J. Wilson, who retired his last 18 batters after giving up an RBI single to David Murphy in the second inning.
The Indians, who head home to host the Chicago White Sox, were swept in consecutive series for the first time since last June at the New York Yankees and Detroit. The Tribe totaled 13 runs during the six games against the Angels and San Francisco Giants, batting .183 and going 6 for 36 with runners in scoring position.
“It was a really tough trip. There’s no way around it,” Francona said. “Not a lot went right for us. But we have to put it behind us. We have to go fix it, and we’ll do that.”
A’S 12, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jesse Chavez allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings, Eric Sogard matched his season total with three RBIs and the Athletics completed a three-game sweep with a rout of the sloppy Rangers.
Yoenis Cespedes had two doubles, scored twice and drove in two runs for the A’s, who scored 10 runs combined in the third and fourth innings to answer a three-game sweep by the Rangers in Oakland last week.
The Rangers matched a season high with four errors, including one of two by shortstop Elvis Andrus on what could have been an inning-ending double play in Oakland’s seven-run third.
Chavez (2-0) walked one and struck out eight, allowing only Prince Fielder’s soft line-drive single to right-center field in the first inning.
