Atlanta Braves at Houston Astros

· Major League Baseball

Atlanta Braves

90-64, 39-37 Away

Final
6 - 2

Houston Astros

77-77, 39-40 Home

Braves punch playoff ticket as Harris, Acuña and Olson launch 2-run homers in 6-2 win over Astros

The first-place Braves secured at least a National League wild card and reduced their magic number to three for winning the NL East. Atlanta is heading to the postseason for the eighth time in nine years.

The loss dropped Houston into a tie with Texas atop the AL West when the Rangers beat Toronto 7-1. The Astros hold the head-to-head tiebreaker after winning the season series.

Olson hit his 40th home run in the ninth inning to make him the fifth player in franchise history with multiple 40-homer seasons after he set a Braves record with 54 in 2023.

Harris, who had three hits, gave the Braves a 2-0 lead with his homer off Peter Lambert (8-10) in the fourth. They were clinging to a one-run lead with one on and one out in the seventh when Acuña connected off Bennett Sousa to make it 4-1.

The Astros had runners on first and second with two outs in the eighth when an RBI single by Isaac Paredes cut the lead to 4-2. Jose Altuve hit a flyball to shallow right field but Acuña made a diving catch to end the inning.

Tyler Mahle (7-10) allowed three hits and a run with six strikeouts in six innings to help the Braves to their second win in five games.

Lambert yielded six hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings. He remained winless since July 11.

Olson singled with one out in the fourth before Harris put the Braves on top with his shot to the seats in left field.

Yordan Alvarez got Houston’s first hit on a double with no outs in the fourth. The Astros cut the lead to one when he scored on a single by Paredes.

Houston had runners at first and third with one out in the inning, but Mahle retired Christian Walker on a flyout to shallow center and Taylor Trammell on a groundout to escape the jam.

Up next Atlanta RHP Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.49 ERA) opposes RHP Hayden Wesneski (5-2, 3.70) when the series continues Saturday night.

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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Trammell struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Walker struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Varsho struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Iglesias relieved Fuentes
	9th Inning	Dubón struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Harris II struck out swinging.

Statistics

ATL		HOU
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
8	Ground Balls	5
10	Strikeouts	12
6	Runs Batted In	2
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
11	Hits	5
0	Stolen Bases	0
2	Walks	2
0	Catcher Interference	0
6	Runs	2
0	Ground Into Double Play	0
0	Sacrifice Flies	0
39	At Bats	32
3	Home Runs	0
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
15	Runners Left On Base	12
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
2	Doubles	1
21	Fly Balls	15
0	Caught Stealing	0
148	Pitches	149
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	1
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
22	Total Bases	6
41	Plate Appearances	34
486.0	Projected Home Runs	0.0
5	Extra Base Hits	1
6.9	Runs Created	0.7
.282	Batting Average	.156
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.564	Slugging Percentage	.188
.333	Secondary Average	.094
.317	On Base Percentage	.206
.881	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.393
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.3
6.7	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.7
48.0	Batter Rating	15.0
13.0	At Bats Per Home Run	0.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.61	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.38
.282	Isolated Power	.031
0.20	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.17
.049	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.059
.051	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.063
12.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.2
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.3
95.0	MLB Rating	64.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0