MIAMI — Marcell Ozuna spent the first five seasons of his MLB career with the Miami Marlins, and he hasn't lost his love for playing baseball in South Florida.
Now, though, it's the Atlanta Braves who are getting the benefit of his bat.
Ozuna, off to a hot start after hitting a career-high 40 home runs last season, made himself at home again Sunday afternoon, when he hit a three-run homer off Tanner Scott with two outs in the top of the ninth inning as the Braves rallied to beat the Marlins 9-7 and win two of three games in the series between National League East Division teams.
Atlanta wasted a 5-1 lead and fell behind 7-5 in the sixth when Jesús Sánchez hit a tying RBI single with two outs against Braves starter Charlie Morton and scored on Nick Gordon's two-run homer off Dylan Lee.
Ozuna hit an RBI double in the seventh against Anthony Bender. In the ninth, the speedy Ronald Acuña Jr. singled against Scott leading off, Matt Olson walked on four pitches with two outs, and Ozuna drove a slider with an 0-2 count to center for his seventh homer of 2024 with the season a little more than two weeks old.
"I just wanted to make good contact and tie the game because Ronny was at second," Ozuna said. "Any bloop or base hit I could get and Ronny scores and it's a tie game."
Ozuna, who spent the first five seasons of his career in Miami, then was with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018-19 before joining the Braves, went 7-for-12, homered twice and drove in eight runs in the series.
"This is the place that I grew up, and this is the team that gave me the opportunity as a professional baseball player," said the 33-year-old Ozuna, who was born in the Dominican Republic. "This is basically my hometown. Every time I come here, I feel good."
Scott had retired Ozuna, who has thrived as Atlanta's designated hitter, on a double-play grounder to close Miami's 5-1 win Saturday.
"I didn't execute my pitch. I threw a bad pitch, and it all falls on me," said Scott, who fell to 0-3 with Sunday's loss. "I should have gotten the guy before him. That's my mistake."
Adam Duvall also homered for the Braves, who won 8-1 on Friday. A.J. Minter (2-1) pitched a perfect eighth on Sunday, and Raisel Iglesias got three straight outs for his third save of the season.
"These guys are amazing," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "If you keep within a run or so, you've got a pretty good chance. It was a tough, well-fought game."
Atlanta, seeking its seventh straight NL East title, is first in the division at 9-5, two games ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies (8-8). Miami dropped to 3-13, the worst record in the majors.
The Marlins made the playoffs last year as a wild-card qualifier, with Skip Schumaker voted the NL's manager of the year in his first season leading the club. They hadn't won a home game this year until Saturday, but Schumaker remained optimistic despite Sunday's setback.
"The way they fought was so encouraging, because if they do that throughout the year, you'll get more wins than losses," he said. "That's tough. It's going to eat at them tonight, no doubt."
Morton gave up six runs and seven hits in 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts.
"I think they jumped me early in a couple of counts," Morton said. "They got some pitches to hit and put the barrel on the ball. There were a couple of mistakes that I made in counts, and I paid for them."
Miami starter Jesús Luzardo allowed five runs and seven hits in five innings.
Bryan De La Cruz went 2-for-4 with a homer and drove in two runs for the Marlins. Third baseman Jake Burger, who leads Miami with 15 RBIs, left in the third inning because of a left oblique strain.
Marlins infielder Tim Anderson entered in the sixth after missing two games because of an illness and struck out leading off the bottom of the ninth. Anderson replaced Vidal Brujan, who exited because of right knee soreness.
The Braves are halfway through a six-game road trip that continues Monday night against the Houston Astros (6-11), who sit last in the American League West after reaching the AL Championship Series in 2023.
Atlanta right-hander Darius Vines will make his season debut after pitching 12 innings with a 3.75 ERA for Triple-A Gwinnett. The Astros, who won the World Series against the Phillies in 2022 after losing the 2021 Fall Classic to Atlanta, will also send a right-hander to the mound by countering with Spencer Arrighetti (0-1, 21.00).