Dom does it again, sends Braves to comeback win

“And like I said, I’m taking it one day at a time, one moment at a time, and this team has welcomed me with open arms from Day One, and it’s just been a ride.”

Raisel Iglesias earned his third save of the season, and 100th in a Braves uniform by pitching a perfect ninth inning. His scoreless frame on the heels of Smith’s heroics give the Braves a chance to go for another series win at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday in the rubber game between the two teams.

Smith went 3-for-4 in Tuesday’s win and drove in four of the Braves’ six runs.

“This has turned into a great story,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said of Smith who has been used exclusively as a designated hitter this season. “It keeps getting better and couldn’t happen to a better guy. So happy for him. He’s been really clutch for us here in the first couple weeks of season.”

Down 5-3 in the eighth, the Braves got a bloop single into no-man’s land off the bat of Drake Baldwin to begin the inning, then a two-out single by Mike Yastrzemski put runners at the corners for Ozzie Albies. Marlins reliever Pete Fairbanks (0-1) hit Albies with a 2-1 pitch to load the bases for Dominic Smith.

Smith fell behind two strikes, took a ball, fouled off two more, then changed the outcome with one swing of his bat. He hit an 87-mph cutter in the heart of the plate 99 mph that went 363 feet before bouncing on the warning track and up against the wall.

“I just wanted to get a strike to hit,” Smith said. “I know (Fairbanks) has elite stuff. His fastball is really good, has that cut at the top of the zone and really good breaking balls and cutters off of that. And like I said, I saw him work really hard. We didn’t just bang him around. We had to work for some pitches. Just grinding these guys down because they are good, too. They get paid, too.

“I give the credit to just my whole team giving me the opportunity to come up in that situation, and ultimately, God helped me get the job done.”

Long before Smith’s winning hit, Reynaldo López started the game on the mound for the Braves (11-7) and looked like he and his teammates might be in for a long evening.

López allowed a lead-off single to Jakob Marsee and, later in the inning, an Agustin Ramírez sacrifice fly to right putting the Marlins up 1-0.

The second inning featured more of the same with Otto Lopez drawing a lead-off walk, stealing second and scoring on Connor Norby’s single to right. Graham Pauley banged a double off the wall in right to bring home another run. It would have scored two if not for Mauricio Dubón’s relay throw home to get Javier Sanoja trying to score from second.

That only paused the bleeding.

Marsee lined a run-scoring single to center making it 4-0 before López could get out of the inning.

The Braves got a run back via Smith’s two-out single to right that scored Albies, who had doubled. They got two more back in the third with back-to-back RBI doubles from Baldwin and Matt Olson, respectively.

A different López finished the game Tuesday than the one who started it. He retired seven straight batters, striking out five over that stretch, and allowed only one base runner over the final three innings he pitched.

When all was said and done López had survived five innings, struck out six, thrown 96 pitches and held the Marlins at bay to give his team a chance.

But the Braves couldn’t take advantage of that chance between the fourth and seventh innings. Setup man Robert Suarez (2-0) gave up three straight two-out singles in the eighth, allowing the Marlins (9-9) to tack on an insurance run.

There was still enough time, however, for more Smith heroics.

“It only takes one pitch to get the job done,” Smith said succinctly.