Braves beat the Red Sox in extra innings

The Atlanta Braves had some late-inning heroics to beat the Boston Red Sox

Braves vs. Red Sox: The Braves and Red Sox opened a three-game series tonight that concludes the 2020 regular season…With tonight’s win, the Braves snapped a six-game losing streak to Boston here in Atlanta, winning for the first time since June 17, 2015 …Overall, the Braves are 14-23 (.378) against the Red Sox in Atlanta, including 1-3 (.250) at Truist Park.

Postseason Outlook: With tonight’s win, Atlanta has clinched the No. 2 seed in the National League…Miami clinched a postseason berth tonight, and five of the eight NL playoff teams are set with the Braves, Cubs, Dodgers, Marlins and Padres making up the field as it currently stands.

Never Quit with Snit: The Braves erased deficits in the eighth, 10 and 11 innings to rally and beat Boston, 8-7…Tonight marks Atlanta’s 85 win in its final at-bat since Brian Snitker took over as manager on May 17, 2016...Tonight’s last at-bat victory was the Braves’ eighth this season, tied for most in the NL with the Dodgers and Padres, and the fourth walk-off win for Atlanta...The Braves led the National League in final at-bat wins in 2016 (19) and 2017 (20), tied for the league lead in 2018 (20) and finished fifth last season (20).

MVFree: Freddie Freeman drove a 1-0 pitch out to left-center for his fifth career walk-off home run and his 11 game-ending RBI…Freeman came off the bench in the ninth inning and went 1-for-1 with a walk and the game-winning homer…He entered play first in the NL in doubles, first in extra-base hits, first in runs scored, second in batting average, second in RBI, second in on-base percentage, second in slugging percentage, second in walks and third in hits.

Marcell Ozuna: Drove in a pair of runs and now has 55 RBI on the year…He entered play leading the National League in both RBI and home runs (17)…Ozuna tied Andres Galarraga for the Atlanta-era record for most RBI through the team’s first 60 games…He is now just two RBI short of tying the modern-era record set by Wally Berger in 1935 (57)…The last Braves player to lead the NL in either homers or RBI was Andruw Jones in 2005.

Ronald Acuña Jr.: Drove a 3-1 pitch over the left-center-field wall for his 19 career lead-off home run and his fourth this season…The home run extended his own franchise record for career leadoff homers…Acuna Jr.’s homer traveled a projected 495 feet, the longest home run in baseball this year, the longest ever hit at Truist Park, and the fifth longest in baseball since Statcast began tracking data in 2015…Only Nomar Mazara (505 ft in 2019), Giancarlo Stanton (504 ft in 2016), Miguel Sanó (496 ft in 2019) and Aaron Judge (496 ft in 2017) have longer homers in that span.

Kyle Wright: Gave up two hits, two runs, three walks and a home run with four strikeouts in a career-high 6.2 innings pitched during his eighth start this season…Has three consecutive starts with at least 6.0 innings pitched for the first time in his career…Is sporting a 2.37 ERA (5 ER/19.0 IP) in those three starts, after pitching to an 8.05 ERA in his first five starts this season.

Sacrifices: Atlanta had the bases loaded and less than two outs in both the seventh and eighth innings, and failed to score in either situation…The Braves did score three runs in the eighth, but all came with two outs…Atlanta batters have combined for just eight total sacrifices on the season, with one sac bunt and seven sac flies…That total was second fewest in the majors entering play, behind just Cincinnati (six sac flies, zero sac hits).