Atlanta, GA – Dan Uggla went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI, and Tommy Hanson pitched a solid 5 1/3 innings, as the Atlanta Braves dropped the Miami Marlins, 6-2, Thursday to complete a sweep of a three-game series at Turner Field.
The win keeps the playoff-bound Braves four games behind the Washington Nationals in the race for the NL East crown.
Hanson (13-9) kept his team in the game, giving up two runs -- one earned -- on six hits. He recorded four strikeouts and two walks before exiting in the sixth with a man on first and one out.
A four-run bottom of the fourth by Atlanta -- winners of its last five -- erased an early 2-0 deficit, with Uggla and Andrelton Simmons each hitting RBI doubles and scoring a run off Marlins starter Jacob Turner.
"It definitely feels good to get a couple of runs and drive in a few and get some knocks," said Uggla. "Like I said about three weeks, a month ago, I'm back, I'm not searching for (my swing). It's me and I'm going to keep doing what I can do from here on out.
"We're playing good baseball now, doing what we need to do. We've got six games left so we've just got to keep taking care of business and keep going in the direction we're going."
Turner (1-4), making his sixth start since coming over in a late-July trade from Detroit, guided his team through six innings, giving up four runs -- two earned -- on six hits. He struck out five and walked three.
Carlos Lee and Gil Velazquez each had an RBI for the Marlins, who have lost seven in a row and nine of their last 10.
After leading off with a double to start the third frame, Bryan Petersen advanced to third base two batters later on a Jose Reyes groundout. Then with two outs, Lee came through with another double, scoring Petersen and giving the Marlins a 1-0 lead.
An inning later, the Marlins took advantage of a Hanson error to get another run. First, Scott Cousins singled and moved to second when Hanson threw an errant pickoff attempt past Freddie Freeman covering first.
Velazquez next came to the plate and ripped a double to left, scoring Cousins to make it a 2-0 game.
But the Braves came right back to plate four in the bottom of the fourth, with a bad play by the pitcher factoring in.
After Freeman singled to left with one out, he advanced to second on a wild pitch by Turner, and scored four pitches later on a double by Uggla.
Uggla then crossed home on a double from Simmons, tying the score at two.
While Turner walked Jose Constanza to load the bases with two outs, the Marlins could have gotten out of the inning when Martin Prado hit a line drive towards Petersen in left field.
Petersen, however, dropped the ball and then kicked it towards center field, and his error allowed both David Ross and Simmons to score, giving the Braves a 4-2 advantage.
"It's a ball I have to catch," said Petersen. "There really is not a whole lot of excuses you can make right there. Yeah, it's a catchable ball. It just kind of went in and out. It's just baseball sometimes."
Then with two outs in the seventh and the bases loaded, Uggla delivered his second hit of the night to increase the Braves' lead to four.
Prado first hit a double off Wade LeBlanc, followed by walks to Jason Heyward and Freeman. Uggla hit a 2-2 pitch off reliever Ryan Webb to score Prado and Heyward, putting the Braves up 6-2.
Braves reliever Jonny Venters pitched two scoreless innings, giving way to Cristhian Martinez, who also pitched a scoreless ninth.
Game Notes
The Braves have a NL East-best 17-7 record in Sept. Last year, during a late- season collapse that caused Atlanta to miss the playoffs, the Braves went 9-18 in Sept. ... The Braves improved to 14-4 on the season against the Marlins.
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