Marlins Lose In 14 Innings

    The Miami Marlins returned home and dropped their fourth straight game with a 7-1 defeat to the Atlanta Braves in 14 innings at Marlins Park on Monday night. The Fish took two out of three games when they last met the Bravos in Atlanta last week.
    In the fifth inning, Miami(32-56) picked up one run against Braves starting pitcher Mike Minor. Adeiny Hechavarria led off with a base hit into center field. Derek Dietrich struck out looking and Jeff Mathis lined out to right field. Placido Polanco pinched-hit for Marlins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, singled to center and advanced Hechavarria to second. Justin Ruggiano followed with an RBI-single to center field as Hechavarria scored.
    Atlanta(51-38) came back quickly and tied it with one run off Dan Jennings in the top of the sixth. Jason Heyward began with a triple to the center-field wall. Justin Upton then drove Heyward in on a sacrifice fly to right field.
    There was a 14-minute delay to close the stadium roof during the seventh inning due to inclement weather that was expected. For the first time in the two-year history of Marlins Park, the roof was opened to begin a game in July. Both teams pitched a perfect game between the eighth inning and the 12th inning as neither club was able to put a man on base.
    The Bravos exploded with six runs in the 14th inning when Chris Hatcher came in to relieve for Mike Dunn. Two of the first three batters walked as Reed Johnson and Heyward got on base. Upton knocked both of them in on a one-out double to left-center field as the Braves took their first lead of the game. Freddie Freeman was intentionally walked and Tyler Pastornicky reached first on an infield hit to load the bases. After Dan Uggla struck out, Gerald Laird hit a two-run single into center field for Upton and Freeman to score. Chris Johnson added another two-run base hit to left-center field as Pastornicky and Laird crossed the plate.       
    Slowey pitched five innings of shutout ball and allowed four hits. Minor gave up one run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings pitched. Hatcher took his major league loss as he surrendered five earned runs on four hits in one inning.