For the second night in a row, the Atlanta Braves offense put together some late-inning magic to steal another game from the Chicago Cubs. Atlanta walked off Chicago in the bottom of the 10th to pick up the win and clinch home-field advantage throughout the NLCS.
Atlanta is now 102-56 after the win while the Cubs fall to 82-76 while trying to hold on to the final spot in the NL Wild Card race.
The Braves got on the board early with Ozzie Albies hitting his 33rd home run of the year to make it 1-0.
Ozzie Albies hits his 33rd homer of the season to give the #Braves a 1-0 lead in the first. He's got 105 RBIs, one from his career-high set in 2021. Think about that: In his past two healthy seasons, Albies has 63 homers and 111 RBIs.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 27, 2023
The first run of the day came on a "passed ball" that allowed Cody Bellinger to score and tie the game at one. Replay would show the ball going off the bat of Jeimer Candelario, but since that play for some reason is not reviewable, and umpires are very soft and squishy, Brian Snitker was ejected in the second inning for arguing the call.
How does an entire crew miss this?
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 27, 2023
It'd be nice if that was reviewable too. pic.twitter.com/kDFxcrdzzW
Darius Vines was able to muster six solid innings of pitching, allowing two earned runs over six innings of work while striking out five Cubs. A much-needed performance for this pitching staff. Outside of the "passed ball", his only blemishes came in the third inning, allowing Mike Tauchman and Ian Happ to take him deep to give Chicago a 3-1 lead.
Atlanta chipped into the lead thanks to a Cubs error in the 7th that scored a run, followed by Ozzie Albies plating another run with an RBI single in the 8th to tie the game at three. The run scored from second base and the man occupying that base was Ronald Acuña Jr. who was fresh off stealing his 69th base of the season.
The Cubs took the lead back in the top of the ninth with Yan Gomes singling to score old friend Dansby Swanson. The Braves responded in the bottom of the inning with Marcell Ozuna homering to center to keep the game alive and eventually take us to extra innings.
The Braves put runners in scoring position throughout the closing parts of this game but couldn't come through to put the nail in the Chicago coffin. Atlanta was sitting at 1-11 with runners in scoring position before Acuña hit a line drive RBI single to right to score Kevin Pillar at tie the game at 5-5 in extra innings.
HISTORY@ronaldacunajr24 | #ForTheA pic.twitter.com/kcncm9Kla8
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 28, 2023
Acuña further cemented his place in baseball lore by stealing another base in the top of the 10th, becoming the first member of the 40/70 club in major league baseball history.
Albies brought him home one pitch later to end the wild night, capping off a three-hit night and the 6-5 win for the Braves.
bump https://t.co/tqBxFcTOsB pic.twitter.com/k3NUhoUKzE
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 28, 2023
Atlanta closes out the series with Chicago on Thursday, with the first pitch from Truist Park scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET.