Marlins bullpen, tasked with expanded role, falters against Braves

Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald on May 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MIAMI — The Miami Marlins bullpen, which has statistically been one of the top group of relief pitchers in MLB this season, had a big task on its hands Tuesday against the Atlanta Braves.

Starting pitcher Braxton Garrett lasted just three innings in his second start since returning to the big leagues, so manager Clayton McCullough relied on his relievers to pick up six innings of work and protect a two-run lead they had inherited.

The game slowly unraveled for Miami, with Atlanta chipping away at its deficit. The Braves tied it in the sixth before taking the lead for good on a three-run eighth inning against Calvin Faucher to eventually beat the Marlins, 8-4, at loanDepot park.

Faucher, who threw 23 pitches in Miami’s 12-0 shutout win on Monday, loaded the bases in the eighth with two outs on walks to Mike Yastrzemski, Ha-Seong Kim and Ronald Acuna Jr. Mauricio Dubon then swung out of the zone to hit a groundball to the right side. First baseman Christopher Morel fielded the ball, but didn’t have a play at second base (neither second baseman Xavier Edwards nor shortstop Otto Lopez was at the bag for the forceout) or first base (Faucher wasn’t covering for Morel). Yastrzemski scored and everyone was safe. Matt Olson followed with a two-run single to push Atlanta’s lead to 7-4.

Until that decisive frame, Miami looked like it might have a chance to hold on for a second consecutive win over the Braves.

The Marlins (22-27) led the Braves (33-16) 4-2 after three innings on an Edwards first-inning home run, Kyle Stowers two-run double in the first inning and Esteury Ruiz sacrifice fly in the third as McCullough shifted to his bullpen following Garrett’s brief start.

What followed:

Anthony Bender, who had thrown 10 consecutive scoreless outings, tossed a perfect fourth inning before giving up a leadoff double to Acuna in the fifth. After getting Dubon to fly out to center field, Bender’s day was done.

Next up: Andrew Nardi.

The lefty, who had held opponents scoreless in 10 of his previous 12 appearances, immediately gave up an RBI double to Olson and then issued a game-tying solo home run to Michael Harris II in the sixth. He struck out the final two batters he faced — Yastrzemski looking, Sandy Leon swinging — before retreating to the dugout with two outs in the sixth.

Reliever No. 3: Michael Petersen. He threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings, working around a pair of two-out walks in the seventh by striking out Austin Riley to keep the game tied at 4-4.

The game then became out of reach for good when the Braves scored three against Faucher in the eighth.

The Braves, for good measure, tacked on an extra run in the ninth on a Kim RBI single against Lake Bachar.

Miami’s offense, meanwhile, didn’t score again after the fourth inning despite its share of opportunities.

The Marlins had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but both runners were stranded when Morel and Ruiz struck out.

They had two on and one out again in the seventh but Morel struck out for a third time in the game and Ruiz flied out to left field to once again strand a pair of runners.

As for Garrett, it was his second consecutive abbreviated start since being brought back to the big league roster. The 28-year-old lefty, who missed all the 2025 season after undergoing UCL revision surgery in his left elbow, needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning and was done for the day after throwing just 65 total pitches in three innings of work. He held the Braves to two runs, both of which came in the first inning, on three hits and three walks while striking out two.

This came after giving up five runs over 1 1/3 innings in his season debut on Thursday in Minnesota.