Braves homer their way to comeback win over Cubs, drop NL East magic number to 5
Wednesday’s Braves game at Wrigley Field was following a similar script to Tuesday’s 7-3 loss to the Cubs.
Until Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Drake Baldwin changed the ending.
The trio of Braves each delivered a two-run homer in the sixth, seventh and ninth innings, respectively, to overcome a stagnant start and lift Atlanta to a 6-3 win over Chicago, leveling the three-game series at a game apiece.
The win, paired with the Phillies’ loss at Washington, dropped the Braves’ NL East magic number to five. Atlanta’s magic number to clinch a postseason berth is down to three, and can go down to two should Miami beat the Diamondbacks late Tuesday night.
The Braves could not touch Cubs starter Kevin Gausman in the early innings. After Matt Olson’s two-out, first-inning single, the next 10 Atlanta batters were retired in order.
The Braves then couldn’t do anything with Mauricio Dubón’s leadoff single in the fifth. But they finally broke through in the sixth against Gausman when Acuña followed Baldwin’s single with a two-run shot to left.
It was Acuña’s 18th homer of the season, 10 of which have come since Aug. 1.
Gausman then allowed a double to Brewer Hicklen and couldn’t finish the sixth inning.
Atlanta then took the lead against another old friend in Cubs right-hander Jacob Webb (6-5). Austin Riley worked a leadoff walk and, one out later, Albies cranked a homer well into the right-center bleachers to put the Braves ahead 4-3.
It was Albies’ 22nd homer of the year but just his second since Aug. 11.
Baldwin came through with some insurance for good measure, lasering his 24th homer of the season off Edward Cabrera with two outs in the ninth to make it 6-3.
The bullpen did its job exceptionally well after the comeback, as Didier Fuentes delivered two perfect innings of relief to record his 17th hold and Raisel Iglesias followed with a 1-2-3 ninth for his 33rd save, including nine straight without a blown save.
The comeback was perfectly timed to deliver Martín Pérez (9-9) his 100th career major league win in his sixth attempt to reach the milestone.
It wasn’t Pérez’s sharpest outing of the season. But as he so often does, he grinded it out to keep the Braves in the game and give the bats a chance to awaken.
Pérez worked around a pair of two-out walks in a scoreless first but couldn’t get through the second unscathed when he allowed the first three batters to reach on a pair of singles sandwiched around a walk. But the left-hander did well to limit the damage to one run, with a defensive assist from Albies and Baldwin who combined on an out at the plate.
He didn’t have the same luck in the fourth, hindered by an error from Dubón at shortstop which allowed two runs (one earned) to score.
But Pérez again did well to limit the damage, getting out of the inning with just a 3-0 deficit. That was a notable difference from Tuesday night’s 7-0 deficit that Atlanta was unable to pull out of.
Pérez finished his six-inning outing by retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced, surrendering three runs (two earned) on five hits and four walks, striking out two.
He notably ended his outing by retiring NL MVP frontrunner Pete Crow-Armstrong for the fourth time in as many times against him. Iglesias got Crow-Armstrong to fly out to right to finish off his 0-for-5 night and close out the victory.
The rubber match is set for Wednesday night in Chicago, before the Braves head to Houston for a weekend series.
