Homer-happy Braves crush Marlins 12-1

From Eury Pérez to Edward Cabrera to Sandy Alcantara, the Marlins got strong outings from their starters during the first three days of this week.

They hoped Ryan Gusto would keep it going Wednesday against the Braves to close out the nine-game homestand.

He didn’t.

Gusto gave up three home runs in the first three innings as the Marlins lost to the Braves 12-1 at loanDepot park, dropping their seventh consecutive series since sweeping the Yankees at home to start this month.

“His first couple of starts with us he filled up the strike zone — it just wasn’t there today,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He put himself in some tough spots. They hit some mistakes for homers. Today, for me, the story with Ryan was he didn’t fill it up like he’s shown he’s capable of and didn’t finish at-bats. … Just one of those you have to flush and move on.”

Gusto lasted only 3 2/3 innings, giving up nine runs on seven hits. He walked five and hit Ronald Acuña Jr., sparking a brief flare-up between the teams.

“I threw pretty well against them last time, got deep into the game, limited damage, and today, too many free passes,” Gusto said. “I was making too good of pitches in the zone for them to hit. I made it easier on them and tougher on myself. … A couple less walks and big hits, I don’t think it gets nearly as out of hand as it did. It was a bunch of things working against me today. I’ve definitely got to clean it up and figure it out for next time.”

The right-hander’s outing started ominously, with Jurickson Profar hammering the third pitch of the game 350 feet over the right-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

The Braves homered twice more during a wild five-run third inning. After Profar led off with a walk, Matt Olson smashed Gusto’s 79 mph curveball 426 feet to center for a 3-0 lead.

That brought up Acuña, who Gusto hit on the left elbow with his first pitch. Acuña barked at Gusto as both dugouts and bullpens emptied, players spilling onto the field. There were no altercations, but Braves manager Brian Snitker was ejected before play quickly resumed.

“On the scouting report, it says throw a sinker in. It was obviously ran off a little bit too far,” Gusto said. “In real time, it looked like he dropped his hand or elbow right into the pitch. It looked like he got out of the way and then at the last second moved into it, which is what I was trying to tell him when he was staring me down. Like dude, obviously I’m not targeting you, throwing a two-seam at you. …So it’s kind of interesting to me it escalated the way it did.”

Said McCullough: “There was no intent behind that.”

Two batters later, Ozzie Albies drilled his third homer in two games — a 391-foot three-run blast off the right-field pole for a 6-0 lead.

The Braves tacked on three more runs in the fourth inning on Albies’ two-run single and an RBI single by Michael Harris II. Combined with Tuesday’s nine-run ninth inning, the Braves had scored 18 straight runs in the series.

Derek Hill snapped the streak with an RBI double to left in the fifth, scoring Liam Hicks from first base.

The Braves’ home run contest continued after that against the Marlins’ new arms — Freddy Tarnok and Seth Martinez.

The two right-handers were called up from Triple A Jacksonville on Wednesday to bolster the bullpen, and both saw action after Gusto’s short outing.

Tarnok pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on a single hit — a sixth-inning two-run homer by Harris — and striking out four.

Martinez came on to start the seventh and allowed a solo homer to Profar. He finished the inning with two hits and one run allowed.

“We needed Freddy to come in there, pick us up and get us two-plus innings,” McCullough said. “For him to be able to do that was huge for us. Just trying to shorten the game. And for Seth, it was a lot of pitches [43] for Seth to have to throw. He only gave up one run. Just a lot of foul balls. … For the most part, Seth filled it up.”

This and that

Right-hander Janson Junk was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Aug. 24, with right ulnar nerve irritation. Junk said he isn’t experiencing pain, only “a tingle” he noticed during his bullpen session Tuesday. Both he and McCullough emphasized it’s nothing serious, and the IL stint is purely precautionary.

Josh Simpson was optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville after surrendering seven runs in 1/3 of an inning Tuesday.

“Still believe Josh is going to be a big part of our team in the future,” McCullough said. “My message to Josh was, ‘You’re not the first young player that’s come up, had some struggles and had to go down and get a reset of sorts.’ He needs to fill up the strike zone with more regularity. And Josh was incredibly accountable to that and understood.”

Third baseman Connor Norby is nearing a return from wrist surgery. Norby, who played rehab games for Jacksonville on Tuesday and Wednesday, will join the Marlins in New York and is expected to be activated during the Mets series, McCullough said.

Position player Javier Sanoja pitched for the second straight game, marking his sixth mound appearance of the season.