ATLANTA -- Anibal Sanchez threw 17 pitches to four Atlanta Braves batters before one of the hitters saw an offering worthy of a hack. That's how the night began for Sanchez, who ended up walking eight -- one shy of the club record. It ended in a 4-0 Marlins loss at Turner Field that left no doubt as to which of the two clubs still has a realistic notion of winning the National League wild card.

That would be the Braves, who rank a shade below the Marlins when it comes to scoring runs but are clearly superior when it comes to preventing them. Then again, it wasn't necessary for the Braves to swing the bats Monday, not with the way they were taking one leisurely stroll to first after another.

Sanchez gave up the most walks by a Marlins pitcher since another Sanchez -- Jesus -- also walked eight in a 2001 game. The club record for walks is nine, last done by A.J. Burnett when he tossed a no-hitter during the 2001 season.

``Bad outing, bad day,'' Sanchez said.

The Braves managed only two hits off Sanchez, with one of those being a Chipper Jones home run that struck the foul pole in right. But they took full advantage of Sanchez's wild first inning when he walked the Braves' first three batters. One scored on a ground-ball out. Another came in on Garrett Anderson's sacrifice fly, and it was 2-0 just like that.

``I think he got frustrated early on in the game, thought some of the pitches were strikes that were a little bit off the plate, and let it get to him a little bit,'' catcher John Baker said.

``However, I will say -- trying to look at the positive -- walking eight guys and giving up three runs and keeping us in the game was a heck of an effort.''

Atlanta didn't cause a lot of other damage, but they did just enough for Jair Jurrjens, who held the Marlins scoreless for seven innings before turning the ball over to his bullpen.

WEAK OFFENSE

The Marlins, who were blanked Sunday by the New York Mets, have not scored since their seven-run fifth inning against the Mets on Saturday. Their current streak of 21 scoreless innings is their longest drought of the season.

They have been shut out eight times.

The Braves have pulled within two games of the Colorado Rockies in the wild-card chase while the Marlins find themselves at the very edge of elimination, which will result with either one more loss or Rockies win.

In other words, the Marlins will be trying to play the role of spoiler in their two remaining games against the Braves.

They didn't put up much resistance Monday. The Braves have won their past seven games and 16 of their past 19 to take command of second place in the NL East.

STRONG ROTATION

And Jurrjens showed why the Braves could be a postseason force if they manage to overtake the Rockies.

They have strong starting pitching.

The 3.54 ERA by the Braves starters is the lowest in the NL, and the Marlins, at 4.64, rank 10th.

Jurrjens, who improved to 14-10, has an ERA of 2.61 -- fourth-best in the league.

The Marlins tallied only five hits off the right-hander, with Baker and rookie Chris Coghlan responsible for two hits each.

``We had him on the ropes a couple of times and he threw good pitches to get out of it,'' Coghlan said.

The Marlins had runners at first and third with one out in the second inning but failed to score. They had first and third with no outs in the seventh but came up empty.

Although it was a long night at the plate for the Marlins, it was an even longer one for Sanchez, who was coming off a strong win over Philadelphia last week when he held the Phillies to two hits in eight innings. Sanchez walked only two batters in that game.

On Monday, he couldn't get on track.

He walked Nate McLouth to start the game, then two more Braves batters before getting Brian McCann to ground to first.

``I think that they saw him walk McLouth quick, and then they were going up there taking a strike,'' Baker said. ``The thing they did better than us was they stayed within themselves and didn't go after a bunch of pitches early on, because he threw some close pitches.''

Said Sanchez: ``I've never walked three guys in a row -- ever. [On Monday] it happened.''

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