Braves clinch postseason bid with three homers in win over Astros
· Yahoo Sports
The Braves hit three more two-run homers and Tyler Mahle was excellent once again as Atlanta took down the Houston Astros, 6-2, and clinched a playoff bid in the National League.
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The Phillies also lost on Friday night, so the magic number for the division sits at three.
The bats were quiet in the early innings, but a quick rally ignited in the fourth against Houston starter Peter Lambert. Matt Olson singled and Michael Harris ambushed a first-pitch slurve the opposite way to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead.
The Astros would battle back in the bottom of the fourth with some fortuitous BABIP luck against Mahle, scoring a run by way of a Yordan Alvarez doink double down the left field line and an infield single from Jose Altuve. Isaac Paredes would single in Alvarez, but Mahle worked around the mess and allowed just one run to score.
After the mini rally, Mahle retired the final nine batters he faced. His ERA since joining the Braves is a spectacular 1.28 across eight starts.
With the score still holding at 2-1 in the seventh, Ronald Acuña Jr. launched a 111mph rocket ship into the Crawford Boxes for a two-run homer to extend the lead to 4-1. Ronald continues to pulverize baseballs. Let’s keep him healthy and hot going into October.
Didier Fuentes entered in place of Mahle and was excellent in the seventh. Things got hairy in the eighth as a run came in to score to make it 4-2 with the tying run on the bases. Fortunately, Acuña Jr. came to the rescue again with a spectacular diving catch to rob Altuve of a bloop single that would’ve plated another run.
RONALD 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GXY8hxpaoF
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 19, 2026
And in the top of the ninth, Matt Olson provided some much-needed insurance with his 40th homer of the season, an opposite field blast to the Crawford Boxes.
The series in Houston will continue on Saturday night with Grant Holmes set to face righty Hayden Wesneski. First pitch is an hour earlier at 7:10 p.m. ET.