MIAMI (Ticker) -- The Florida Marlins didn't need to rally for their third straight victory.
Derrek Lee belted a three-run homer and pitcher Brad Penny added a solo blast as the Marlins opened a three-game series with a 7-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves.
Coming off a pair of comeback wins over the New York Mets, Florida went ahead early and never looked back.
Braves rookie starter Horacio Ramirez (1-2) opened the third by hitting Juan Pierre with a pitch. Luis Castillo followed with a single, stole second and came home when Juan Encarnacion singled to left field.
One out later, Lee connected on the first pitch he saw off Ramirez for his 100th major league homer to give the Marlins a 4-0 lead. He hit a team-high 27 homers last year and needed 36 at-bats to get his first of 2003.
"It felt good," Lee said. "It took me awhile to get it, but it came at a key part of the game. When I hit that ball, I thought it was way out. I hit that ball about as hard as I can, but it didn't go out by much so that just shows how big it is out there."
After Atlanta pulled within two runs on Marcus Giles' two-run single in the top of the fourth, Penny put the Marlins ahead, 5-2, in the bottom of the inning with his first major league homer. He broke his bat when he launched a 2-0 pitch from Ramirez over the scoreboard in left field.
"When I hit it I felt like I jammed it because it stung my hand," Penny said. "In BP, I hit a ball a long ways. It could have already been cracked a little bit. I was surprised when it broke the bat, but when I hit it I knew it was good."
"We're going to have to hear about that for the rest of the season," Lee joked. "I think it was already broken and he hit it on the sweet spot."
Juan Encarnacion had a two-run triple later in the inning to push Florida's advantage to five runs.
Penny (1-1) gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings to improve to 5-2 lifetime against Atlanta. He struck out five and walked one.
"You don't want to give up four runs but I was locating my pitches," Penny said. "I was hitting the inside corner and the outside corner and I had good stuff and the team scored a lot of runs to pull me out of it. I (would have) liked to get past five innings, but I feel great."
Braden Looper, the fifth Florida pitcher, tossed a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season.
"It's definitely fun to get that first save," said Looper, who was hit in the forearm on a ball hit by Robert Fick that ended the game. "I don't think (I'll miss any time), it might be a little tight. Luckily, I'm ripped and I'm real strong."
Encarnacion drove in three runs, Luis Castillo went 3-for-4 and Juan Pierre extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the first for the Marlins, who have won five of eight games after an 0-3 start.
Chipper Jones had a two-run homer in the fifth but it was not enough for Atlanta, which lost for the third time in its last four games and dropped to 4-7 this season. The Braves have been outscored, 60-12, in their seven defeats.
Ramirez surrendered all seven runs and eight hits in five innings. The 23-year-old lefthander struck out three and walked two.
"He had to go five or six innings to take some of the burden off of the bullpen," Braves Bobby Cox said. "He really struggled tonight from the first inning on."
