ATLANTA (AP) – Dansby Swanson struck out to begin the ninth inning, so he wanted to do something special with the game on the line after the Atlanta Braves batted around.
“Yeah, I mean who doesn’t?” Swanson said. “I think situations like that are what this game is meant to be played for. But obviously we wouldn’t have been in that situation if the whole team didn’t pick each other up that whole inning.”
Swanson’s two-run single capped a six-run ninth, and the NL-leading Braves rallied to stun the Miami Marlins 10-9 on Sunday.
Ronald Acuna Jr. drove in two runs in the seventh and another in the ninth as the Braves moved 11 games over .500 for the first time since July 5, 2014. Atlanta has won nine of its last 12 and keeps performing well in the clutch with an NL-best 88 runs scored this season in the seventh inning or later.
“I almost expect ’em to do it,” said manager Brian Snitker, whose club has 43 victories in its last at-bat, most in the majors, since he took charge on May 16, 2016. “I mean, down six in the bottom of the fifth, I felt good. I really did. I thought that these guys have a lot of time to go to work here and then you get a little bit farther away, but they never stop. It’s a great win for these guys.”