ATLANTA -- Justin Upton is having quite a month. Upton homered and had three RBIs, Jason Heyward drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 5-2 on Friday night for their third straight win. With 28 RBIs in 25 games since Aug. 1, Upton considers this to be the best month of his eight-year career. Its helped give him a career-high 91 RBIs this season, three more than he had in 2011 with Arizona. "Yeah, the guys on front of me have been getting on base, and Ive been fortunate to get some hits," Upton said. "As far as run producing, its probably been the best." The Braves, winners in 10 of 14, began the night 1 1/2 games back in the NL wild-card standings, but are just 19-21 since the All-Star break. Andrelton Simmons led off the seventh against Chris Hatcher (0-2) with a bunt single and advanced to third on pinch-hitter Ramiro Penas single. Simmons scored on Heywards RBI single off Mike Dunn to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. Uptons RBI single off Sam Dyson drove in Heyward from second and Emilio Bonifacio also scored to make it 5-2 when centre fielder Marcell Ozuna misplayed the ball. It was a good example of the Braves trying to manufacture a run instead of taking their usual free-swinging, strikeout-prone approach. "Were going to have to do that if were going to win," Upton said. "Every nights not going to be a three-run homer. Were going to have to find ways to scratch runs across. We did that tonight." Jordany Valdespin tied it at 2-all in the Miami seventh with a pinch-hit homer, the seventh of his career, off reliever David Carpenter (5-3). Braves starter Ervin Santana allowed one run, five hits, four walks and struck out seven in six innings. Marlins starter Tom Koehler walked Freddie Freeman to begin the sixth and gave up Uptons 26th homer, a long shot deep into the seats in left-centre, for a 2-1 Atlanta lead. "I just got a good pitch to hit," Upton said. "In that situation I was just trying to get on base behind Freddie and squared it up." Koehler gave up two runs and four hits with three walks and six strikeouts in six innings. The Marlins have dropped three straight and five of six. Santana needed 32 pitches to finish the first inning, walking three straight batters to load the bases, but escaped the jam by striking out Garrett Jones on three pitches and retiring Marcell Ozuna on a flyout. In the sixth, Ozuna doubled into the right-field corner off Santana, scoring Casey McGehee from second to make it 1-0, but Garrett Jones was thrown out at the plate on second baseman Tommy La Stellas relay throw to catcher Evan Gattis. "When you talk about winning games this time of year, youve got to make plays," Marlins manager Mike Redmond said. "The team that makes plays and gets big hits wins ball games." TRAINERS ROOM Marlins: Redmond said that RHP Dan Jennings, out since Aug. 8 with a concussion, was making a rehab start Friday and could rejoin the team soon. Braves: LHP Jonny Venters, who last pitched in 2012, said that he will undergo elbow ligament replacement surgery for the third time and added that "it never crossed my mind" to retire. UP NEXT Marlins RHP Jarred Cosart (11-8) beat the Braves 6-1 on June 26 while pitching for Houston. Braves RHP Aaron Harang (10-8) is winless with a 5.18 ERA in four starts this year and 5-5 with a 5.99 in 17 career starts against the Marlins. STAYING HOT Closer Craig Kimbrel, the fourth Atlanta pitcher, earned his 40th save in 44 chances after facing the minimum in the ninth. ... Upton went 2 for 4 and is hitting.307 with 10 homers and 45 RBIs in his 52 games since the start of July. ... The Braves improved to 69-44 dating back to last season with Heyward batting leadoff. STILL COLD Atlanta 1B Freddie Freeman went 0 for 3 and his hitting .056 in 54 at-bats against the Marlins this season. ... Jones dropped to 1 for 12 with the bases loaded this year. ... Braves CF B.J. Upton was out of the lineup for the fourth time in seven games. After hitting a modest .255 in 98 at-bats in July, hes hitting .115 in August. Cheap MLB Jerseys From China . Smith, who raised eyebrows at the CFL combine in March with his ability on both sides of the ball, confirmed in a statement he tested positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol prior to auditioning for league officials. MLB Jerseys 2020 . The traditional pre-Masters event was halted early due to inclement weather. Harrington, who tied for first in 2003 and won in 2004, became the first three-time champion of the event. https://www.mlbjerseys2020.com/. "This isnt really the week you want to lose Chris Greaves," fellow lineman Glenn January said Wednesday after practice. Greaves is expected to miss several weeks after suffering a knee injury in last weeks 36-28 win over the Ottawa Redblacks. Cheap MLB Jerseys Authentic . -- DeMarcus Cousins had 29 points, nine rebounds and six steals to lead the Sacramento Kings to their third straight preseason win, a 107-90 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . -- The Oakland Raiders expect to have starting right tackle Tony Pashos back for Sundays game against the Houston Texans.BOCA RATON, Florida - It will be minor tweaks, not major overhauls, to come from this weeks general managers meetings in Boca Raton, Florida. While a number of more radical ideas, including the implementation of three-on-three play in overtime were discussed, none gained much traction. Instead, the GMs intend to put forth recommendations that they believe will enhance the product without dramatically overhauling it. "The big take away from this meeting is the managers are really happy with where the game is right now,"said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. Throughout the week, GMs have expressed an interest to lessen the number of games decided in a shootout. To that end, a recommendation is expected to be put forth to have teams switch sides to begin overtime (the same as in the second period), hoping that a teams bench being further from their defensive zone will lead to more goals. "I would say thats going to be recommended for sure," St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong confirmed. So far, 18 of 30 teams have scored their largest number of goals under these conditions in the second period. Also given consideration was doing the dry scrape of the ice prior to the overtime period to provide for better ice conditions instead of waiting until before the shootout; however, due to the potential of lengthening games, that item will continue to be discussed. "Do we dry scrape the ice after the sixty minutes or can the ice crew (with shovels) accomplish the same thing, saving two or three minutes? One of the concerns of the dry scrape is the continuity in the game," said Armstrong. "We want to keep the fans attached to it and were not sure if we want to slow the game down four or five minutes to get that dry scrape in." Armstrong indicated that the NHL will consult with Senior Director of Facilities Operations, Dan Craig, regarding the most optimal course of action to enhance the ice for overtime while mitigating the amount of time spent on the task. The GMs also intend to table a recommendation to widen the hash marks on faceoff circles to IIHF standards in an effort to separate opposing wingers, preventing immediate scrums along the boards after draws. "Everyone thought that was a good idea," said Armstrong. "It eliminates the scrums along the boards and it allows the quicker player to get to loose pucks to generate scoring opportunities." Additionally, it is expected that a recommendation to alter the face-off procedure somewhat will be put forward. As it stands currently, if a player is removed from a face-off, another teammate will come in to take the draw.ddddddddddddIf a second infraction is committed, a team will be assessed a two-minute minor penalty. The intended recommendation provides tha,t instead of replacing the offending player, he would simply be forced to move back 12-18 inches (exact distance still being considered), lessening his ability to win the draw. "By doing that, the player loses leverage," explained Armstrong. "We think the referees will be more comfortable calling a (two-minute) penalty on the same guy (who has now cheated twice)." The NHL will also table a recommendation to redefine what a "distinct kicking motion is" allowing for pucks to be directed in by skates where the blade remains on the ice. Daly indicated, though, that the interpretation wont be implemented until next season so that the relevant people can be educated as to the change to avoid confusion. A lot of discussion regarding expanding video review took place, as well, largely focused on whether to allow for the review of plays where goals were scored that may have been affected by goaltender interference. Adding video monitors in the penalty box to allow for officials to review calls impacted by goaltender interference, an item that Calgary Flames President and GM Brian Burke expressed on Monday he would be in favour of, will not be recommended at this point, though Daly suggested it is something the league will further consider. "One specific thing that was talked about, not necessarily recommended but certainly studied further, is adding monitors to penalty benches to allow on-ice officials to review potential interference calls for good goals versus not good goals," Daly confirmed. He also explained that there was an appetite among general managers for the Toronto hockey operations situation room to be given expanded latitude in ruling on situations like the one that occurred on January 18 in a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings. In that example, a puck clearly went into the netting and out of play but was missed, leading directly to a Red Wings goal and, subsequently, a Red Wings win after the game was being led by the Kings in regulation prior to the missed call with less than thirty seconds left in the third period. "I think the managers feel something thats egregious and obvious like that, there should be some latitude to make those calls and get the calls right," said Daly. ' ' '