Atlanta Braves’ Evan Gattis, right, high-fives teammate Tommy La Stella after hitting a home run in their game against the Miami Marlins, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2014, in Atlanta.MIAMI – Evan Gattis gladly traded the triple for the extra base.
Originally ruled a triple, Gattis hit a leadoff homer in the 10th inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 4-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Saturday night.
Gattis drove the first pitch from Bryan Morris (7-1) to the top of the wall in center. Gattis motored into third with a triple when the ball was originally ruled in play, but a replay review showed it hit the wall above a yellow line for his 22nd homer.
“It was one of those things – weird,” Gattis said. “I saw it kick off and he didn’t have the ball so I had to get to third.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez expected a reversal of the original call.
“I think (the umpires) did, too,” Gonzalez said. “At that stage of the game why not take a look at it, even if they’re sure that it wasn’t a home run. From where I was I thought it was above the yellow line.”
David Carpenter (6-3) pitched 1 2-3 innings for the win and Craig Kimbrel finished for his 43rd save in 47 opportunities.
“We want to carry it over,” Gattis said. “We have a quick turnaround but we want to feed off of this and get a win (Sunday).”
Atlanta had a 3-1 lead before Casey McGehee hit a tying two-run single off Jordan Walden in the eighth. Christian Yelich started the rally with a leadoff walk against Alex Wood, and then Walden walked Donovan Solano to put two runners on.
“We battled back,” Miami manager Mike Redmond said. “We had a couple of opportunities to punch a run across and just didn’t do it.”
Wood allowed two runs and six hits, struck out five and walked two. He also helped himself with a two-run single in Atlanta’s three-run fourth. In his last six starts, Wood has an ERA of 1.94.
“I just have to continue my routine in between (starts) and try to stay on top of everything,” Wood said. “I just want to continue to pitch well down the stretch.”
Wood was not disappointed at being removed after walking Yelich.
“All I care is us winning,” Wood said. “Gattis got a big knock in extra innings and the rest is history. I made pitches when I had to and they swung at a few balls out of the zone.”
Gonzalez planned to pitch Wood another inning but the walk to Yelich changed his thinking.
“I was going to let him go hitter to hitter,” Gonzalez said. “I felt comfortable enough that he was able to handle Solano all night. If he would have gotten Yelich, I would have let him face Solano. If he would have gotten Solano I would have let him face Stanton.”
Nathan Eovaldi struck out seven in 6 1-3 innings for Miami. He allowed three runs and eight hits with one walk.
Jeff Baker hit an RBI single in the fourth, trimming Atlanta’s lead to 3-1 and stopping Wood’s scoreless streak at 14 innings.