MIAMI — The Miami Marlins didn't wiggle off the line this time.
Marcell Ozuna hit his third home run in two games and Matt Olson also went deep Thursday as the Atlanta Braves won 6-3 to complete a three-game sweep.
Atlanta has won five of its past six games, all on the road, and this victory was secured when A.J. Minter struck out two batters in the ninth inning, including Jorge Soler on a swinging strike to end the game with a runner on first base. Minter's seventh save in nine chances this season came a week to the day he took the loss after blowing a four-run lead in the ninth as the Marlins rallied to win 5-4 and avoid a four-game sweep in Atlanta.
That matchup also marked the only time the Braves have not homered in seven games against the Marlins this season. Atlanta has 19 home runs against Miami, including six in a 14-6 win Wednesday night, when the slump-busting Ozuna's two shots included a grand slam to open the scoring.
Atlanta returns home on the strength of a sweep that followed a 2-1 showing in three games against the New York Mets. The Braves, who are the five-time reigning champions in the National League East, are first in the division with a 22-10 record that is also the NL's best.
"This was a tough series coming in here because they were playing really well," Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the Marlins, who are tied with the Mets for second in the NL East at 16-16, six games behind Atlanta. "It's a good team. Any time you can have an over-.500 road trip, it's a good thing."
Atlanta leadoff hitter Ronald Acuña Jr. hit an RBI single to put the Braves up 3-2 in the second — and ahead for good — and he also got his MLB-best 15th stolen base of the season, but he went down in the sixth after fouling a ball off his left knee. Acuña remained on the ground and grabbed at his leg for several minutes, but he finished the at-bat and returned to right field in the bottom of the inning before eventually being removed out of precaution.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said after the game that Acuña is "fine" — this injury came three days after he was removed from a game against the Mets with a bruised left shoulder — but was having trouble bending his knee, so the team wanted to get him treatment right away.
"You hit a ball off your knee, it's going to hurt," Snitker said.
Acuña extended his on-base streak to 23 games when he reached on a fielding error by first baseman Yuli Gurriel in the first, and he scored on an RBI double by Sean Murphy to make it 1-0.
Atlanta rookie Dylan Dodd (2-1) made his third start and allowed eight hits, three runs and three walks with one strikeout in six innings.
"I felt like I battled through a lot of baserunners," said Dodd, who was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett after the Braves decided Wednesday to push ace Max Fried's scheduled start back to Friday in Atlanta. "At the end of the day, was pretty happy with the result."
Soler, who finished a triple shy of the cycle, gave Miami a 2-1 lead in the first with his sixth home run of the season. It drove in Jon Berti, who had a leadoff single and his fifth stolen base of the year.
Ozuna drew a one-out walk to start Atlanta's rally in the second, moved to third on Eddie Rosario's double and scored on Kevin Pillar's sacrifice fly. Acuña, after driving in Rosario, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Nick Fortes.
In the fourth, Ozuna drilled a 1-0 pitch from Jesús Luzardo (2-2) to left-center to make it 4-2. It was the fifth homer of the season for Ozuna, who finished 1-for-4 and is hitting .153.
Olson homered in the ninth to make it 5-3, and Vaughn Grissom's bases-loaded sacrifice fly drove in the final run.
Luzardo allowed six hits and four runs (three earned) and walked three batters, including an intentional pass to Acuña, while striking out three in 5 2/3 innings.
Soler made it 4-3 with an RBI double in the fifth, and he singled in the seventh off Michael Tonkin, who combined with Nick Anderson for two scoreless innings in relief. But Soler, the MVP of Atlanta's 2021 World Series championship, was unable to come up with the big hit in the ninth to extend the Marlins' hopes for a comeback.
Miami was charged with three errors in the loss.
"You have to play pretty clean baseball to beat that team," Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. "We didn't play as well as we should have today and kind of shot ourselves in the foot a little bit."
The Marlins are a combined 3-11 against the Braves and the Mets this season. After a three-game series at Atlanta in late June, they will not face either team until a September homestand in which they'll face the Braves and Mets in back-to-back series.
As expected, the Braves placed right-handed pitcher Kyle Wright on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation on Thursday, a day after he exited his start against Miami in the third inning.
However, there was good news for Atlanta on the injury front. Snitker said center fielder Michael Harris II was sore after landing awkwardly on his right leg during Wednesday's game but isn't expected to go on the IL. Harris was given the day off but was available.
Atlanta will begin a five-game homestand against American League East opponents with three against the Baltimore Orioles (21-1). Braves left-hander Fried (2-0, 0.45 ERA) will be countered by Baltimore right-hander Dean Kremer (2-1, 6.67) in Friday's series opener.