Licking their wounds after a sweep in Pittsburgh, and after dealing Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante, the Marlins came out on Monday night and took the series opener against division rival Atlanta. Josh Johnson pitched a gem, setting the Marlins up for a 2-1 victory. Johnson went six innings and allowed only one hit, while striking out nine and issuing no walks. Johnson simply mowed down the Braves, quickly and tidily moving through the game in 87 pitches. He left the game in the sixth with skin irritation on his finger but the bullpen would step in to pick up Ozzie Guillen's club.
On offense, the Marlins did their limited damage early on against Mike Minor. The Fish immediately put together a rally in the bottom of the first. Carlos Lee would knock in the only run of the inning on a single to left that scored Jose Reyes. One inning later, Emilio Bonifacio would take a Minor pitch 398 feet over the left field wall to make it 2-0. That would be it for Miami, but Bonifacio's homer turned out to be crucial insurance and the winning run as Atlanta put together a rally against Randy Choate in their last at-bat. Steve Cishek would come on to close it out for his third save of the year and preserve the 2-1 win.
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