Cosart, Ozuna lead Marlins past Braves, 11-3

CHRISTOPHER STOCK
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — With the way Jarred Cosart has been pitching, he didn’t need much run support.

He got plenty, anyway.

Cosart pitched into the eighth inning, Marcell Ozuna had four hits and four RBIs, and the Miami Marlins beat the Atlanta Braves 11-3 on Friday night.

“(Jarred) did exactly what we needed him to do, come out in the first game of the series, set the tone,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. “Our offense answered the bell, too.”

Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs and Donovan Solano also had four hits for the Marlins, who had a season-high 18 hits.

“We (worked) a little slowly in that last series versus the Mets,” Ozuna said. “Now we turned it around, we’re together and had a good offense.”

Freddie Freeman hit his 18th home run for the Braves, who have lost three of four.

“I hope the Marlins got all their hits out of the way,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

Cosart (4-1), who came into the game with the lowest ERA (0.65) in the majors since Aug. 12, retired 13 batters in a row during one stretch and allowed five hits and two runs in 7 2-3 innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Casey McGehee and Ozuna had RBI singles off Aaron Harang (10-10) in the first inning and Ozuna and Justin Bour had RBI doubles in the third to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead.

Stanton’s two-run double extended the lead to 6-0 and gave him 104 RBIs on the season.

“It’s really comfortable as a starter when we go out there and just jump on the other guy early,” Cosart said.

Harang allowed six runs in 3 2-3 innings, which was his shortest outing since Aug. 7, 2013 when he pitched two innings against Toronto while with Seattle.

“Warming up for the game, I felt awesome,” Harang said. “I couldn’t miss a pitch. As a pitcher, usually those are the nights you have to bite your lip and get through it. Tonight was one of those days.”

Solano’s third hit of the game drove in a run for a 7-0 advantage before Freeman’s solo home run to left-center field made it 7-1.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Adeiny Hechavarria added RBI singles in the seventh for the Marlins.

Andrelton Simmons hit an RBI single in the eighth to end Cosart’s night.

“I’ve came out the same way the last three games so that’s wearing on me a little bit,” Cosart said. “It might be that I’m looking ahead because I really want to finish the game.”

Ozuna’s two-run double capped the scoring.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins RHP Henderson Alvarez (left oblique strain) played catch today without any pain and plans on throwing a bullpen session on Saturday or Sunday with hopes of returning to the rotation sometime next week. “I’m hoping next week, but we’ll see how that whole thing goes,” Marlins manager Mike Redmond said.

UP NEXT

Braves LHP Alex Wood (10-10, 2.92) will start on Saturday against Marlins RHP Nathan Eovaldi (6-10, 4.19). Wood is 3-2 with a 1.86 ERA over his last seven starts.

CAN’T HURT TO ASK

Solano is 6 for 8 in his career against Harang.

“I don’t know how to get Solano out,” Harang said “Maybe I should go next door and ask him because it’s ridiculous how many hits he’s been getting off me the past couple of games.”

STANTON REACHES ANOTHER PLATEAU

Stanton became just the sixth player in franchise history to reach 30 doubles, 30 homers, and 10 steals in a season and the first since Hanley Ramirez in 2008.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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