Bullpen falters in sixth

MIAMI — The Braves were sunk by the sixth inning again.

For the second consecutive night, the Braves had to turn to their bullpen in the sixth inning, and Kris Medlen was not up to the task. Medlen got battered by the Marlins for four runs, and the Braves committed two errors in what deteriorated into an 8-3 loss.

Chipper Jones was charged with an error trying to stop the damage at 4-3 in the sixth, when he couldn’t make a catch for the second out near the stands in foul territory.

So after opening this series with back-to-back wins, the Braves head back to Atlanta knowing that instead of having a two-game cushion on the Marlins, they are now tied for second place. Both the Braves and Marlins are four games behind the Rockies in the National League wild-card standings and 8-1/2 behind the Phillies in the NL East.

After what started as such a promising series with wins by both Kenshin Kawakami and Tim Hudson, the Braves finished this key road trip against the Phillies and Marlins at 3-4.

The Braves had hoped for an economical effort from Hanson, but he opened with a 26-pitch first inning on his way to a short night. He was erratic with his control, walking four and hitting a batter.

Still, Hanson limited the damage to one run after walking pitcher Ricky Nolasco to lead off the third inning. Cameron Maybin made him pay with a run-scoring double to left center. But because Hanson lasted only five innings, Braves manager Bobby Cox had to turn the game over to a taxed bullpen.

After letting a sixth-inning, bases-loaded jam turn into a five-run inning Wednesday night and spoil a 3-2 lead, Medlen was back in the deep end Thursday night.

This time he let a 3-1 lead slip away on a leadoff walk and three consecutive one-out hits. Brett Carroll foiled him again. After hitting a bases-clearing double off Medlen on Wednesday, Carroll came back with an RBI double Thursday night.

That brought up a couple of heavy-hitting pinch hitters in Hanley Ramirez and Cody Ross, both of whom drove in runs with solid hits to right, one of which was misplayed by Matt Diaz.

Medlen has looked more like the nervous rookie who came up in the spring than the confident reliever he had been in recent weeks. He has given up nine runs in his past six innings and has a 10.50 ERA and a .429 opponents’ batting average in the past six games.

Medlen was charged with four runs in the inning, and Eric O’Flaherty two more unearned after Jones’ error opened the door for three runs. After Jones dropped the pop-up in foul territory, Chris Coghlan, Nick Johnson and Jorge Cantu all followed with run-scoring hits off O’Flaherty.

The Braves had taken a 3-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning after loading the bases on Nolasco. After Nolasco intentionally walked Diaz, both Martin Prado and Jones came through with run-scoring singles. But Nolasco stopped the bleeding there, retiring both Brian McCann and Garret Anderson with the bases loaded.

Stopping the bleeding is something the Braves couldn’t do.

Marlins 8, Braves 3

Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO AVG.

M.Diaz rf 4 0 1 0 1 3 .326

Prado 2b 4 0 2 1 0 1 .302

C.Jones 3b 4 0 1 1 0 0 .277

McCann c 4 1 1 1 0 1 .283

Sammons c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200

G.Anderson lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .284

Gorecki lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .227

Y.Escobar ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .305

Ad.LaRoche 1b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .275

Church cf 3 1 1 0 0 0 .280

Hanson p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .069

Norton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .145

Medlen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

O’Flaherty p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Carlyle p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

L.Valdez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Conrad ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333

Totals 35 3 7 3 1 10

Florida AB R H BI BB SO AVG.

Coghlan lf 5 2 2 1 0 1 .304

Maybin cf 3 0 2 1 1 0 .216

Helms 3b 1 0 0 0 0 0 .283

N.Johnson 1b 2 1 1 1 2 0 .297

Sanches p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Pinto p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Hayes ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .200

Lindstrom p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —

Cantu 3b-1b 5 0 1 1 0 0 .280

Jo.Baker c 4 1 2 0 1 1 .276

Uggla 2b 4 0 0 0 1 2 .243

B.Carroll rf 4 2 2 1 0 0 .263

An.Gonzalez ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .100

Ha.Ramirez ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 .356

Bonifacio pr-ss 0 1 0 0 0 0 .252

Nolasco p 1 0 0 0 1 1 .154

C.Ross ph-cf 2 1 2 2 0 0 .268

Totals 35 8 13 8 6 6

Atlanta 010 020 000 — 3 7 2

Florida 001 006 10x — 8 13 2

E: C.Jones (17), M.Diaz (2), N.Johnson (10), Pinto (1). LOB: Atlanta 7, Florida 11. 2B: Church (28), Coghlan (20), Maybin 2 (6), Jo.Baker (25), B.Carroll 2 (7), C.Ross (32). HR: McCann (18), off Nolasco. RBIs: Prado (41), C.Jones (63), McCann (75), Coghlan (39), Maybin (4), N.Johnson (51), Cantu (75), B.Carroll (13), Ha.Ramirez (86), C.Ross 2 (74). S: Bonifacio.

DP: Atlanta 1, Florida 1.

Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Hanson 5 2 1 1 4 5 3.07

Medlen L, 3-5 BS, 2-2 fl 3 4 2 1 1 4.68

O’Flaherty (TM) 4 2 0 0 0 3.28

Carlyle 1 3 1 1 0 0 8.86

L.Valdez 1 1 0 0 1 0 3.38

Florida IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Nolasco W, 10-8 6 7 3 3 1 7 5.27

Sanches 1 0 0 0 0 1 1.37

Pinto 1 0 0 0 0 1 3.12

Lindstrom 1 0 0 0 0 1 5.14