Orlando Arcia drilled a three-run homer in the 10th inning and the Atlanta Braves won their sixth straight game, 4-1 over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a matchup of the National League’s best teams.
With the initial runner at second, Alex Vesia got the first two outs of the 10th but walked Sean Murphy before Arcia sent a first-pitch fastball over the left-centre field wall for his 17th home run and a 4-1 lead.
Max Muncy had a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 10th, but Raisel Iglesias struck out Amed Rosario with a runner on for his 28th save.
Major league-leading Atlanta has won the first three games of this much-anticipated series, becoming the first team to reach 90 victories.
The Braves are cruising to their sixth straight NL East title with a 16-game lead over Philadelphia.
Ronald Acuna Jr. opened the scoring in the third inning with his third home run of this series and 32nd of the season.
The Dodgers got the run back in the bottom half when Austin Barnes doubled, moved to third on two walks and scored on a double-play grounder.
Bryce Elder pitched six innings for the Braves and allowed one run and five hits.
Joe Jimenez, A.J. Minter and Michael Tonkin each pitched one hitless inning before Iglesias took over in the 10th.
Reds rally to walk-off Cubs again
Elly De La Cruz delivered a tying single and newcomer Hunter Renfroe beat out a double-play ball as the Cincinnati Reds rallied for their second straight walk-off win, 2-1 over the Chicago Cubs.
Chicago took a 1-0 lead to the ninth after a brilliant eight-inning performance from Javier Assad but Cincinnati scored twice in the ninth to win.
Jake Fraley opened the inning with a double off Mark Leiter Jr. and pinch-runner Harrison Bader stole third. After TJ Friedl walked and Spencer Steer was hit by a pitch, De Le Cruz’s hit tied it.
Nick Martini flied out to keep the bases loaded and Renfroe – claimed off waivers from the Angels earlier this week – hit a grounder to short and barely beat the throw to first, allowing the winning run to score.
Guardians score 2 in 11th to rally past Rays
Steven Kwan had a sacrifice fly and after a key hit by rookie Jose Tena and the Cleveland Guardians rallied for their fourth straight win, 7-6 over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Brandon Lowe gave the Rays a one-run lead in the top of the 11th with a sacrifice fly, but Chris Devenski was unable to protect it in his first appearance with the team.
With one out, Myles Straw stole third and Bo Naylor walked to put runners at the corners. Tena’s single to right tied the game and moved Naylor to third before Kwan’s fly ball to shallow right-centre scored the winning run.
The loss dropped the Rays 2 ½ games behind AL East-leading Baltimore, while the Guardians remained five games in back of Minnesota in the Central.
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Martino: Miami fell 'too short' with early MLS playoff exit
A frustrated Gerardo Martino admitted Inter Miami fell "too short" after being knocked out in the first round of the MLS playoffs by Atlanta United.
Miami won the first match in the best-of-three series at Chase Stadium, but subsequently lost the next two, being beaten 3-2 in the decider on Saturday.
Bartosz Slisz netted the winner in the 76th minute, but the hosts struggled to find an equaliser that would have forced penalties, with Brad Guzen in inspired form as he thwarted their attack.
It is arguably one of the biggest upsets in playoffs history, with Miami the favourites to lift the MLS Cup after a record-breaking regular season saw them claim 74 points in the Eastern Conference.
"In this last part of the year, we get used to achieving the objectives that we set for ourselves, and we have not been able to achieve the most important one," Martino told reporters.
"If you think about where we were in November last year, obviously there is progress as far as the club is concerned, not just the team.
"If you think about the expectations we had for this playoff, obviously we have fallen too short."
While the loss has come as an obvious shock, Atlanta have actually now won three matches against Miami this season.
Jamal Thiare scored two goals in two minutes to give the Five Stripes the lead in the first half, having also hit the post moments before Miami had opened the scoring.
They face another trip to Florida to face Orlando City in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, and the forward is excited to see what else Atlanta can do.
"It took everyone's special amount of running and giving everything that they got," said Thiare. "Everyone's held each other accountable, fighting when we're basically backs against the wall.
"We didn't want to finish the season like this, so it was a good effort in training, but it was really something that the group discovered along the lines of the last few games. And something great is igniting from all of this."
Inter Miami 2-3 Atlanta United: Slisz completes comeback to upset favourites
Atlanta United stunned MLS Cup favourites Inter Miami, coming from behind to win 3-2 and setting up another trip to Florida to face Orlando City in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Bartosz Slisz scored the all-important winner to ensure Atlanta overturned the deficit in the series, having lost their first trip to Chase Stadium.
The hosts started brightly, with Matias Rojas sharply turning in the rebound of Lionel Messi's saved shot moments after Jamal Thiare was denied by the post.
However, the Senegalese striker would soon turn things around with two goals in two minutes – he powered his first shot past Drake Callender after some chaos in the box and was left with a simple tap-in from close range for his second.
Diego Gomez was denied an equaliser by VAR shortly after, having drifted offside before receiving Luis Suarez's pass, while Brad Guzen made a string of fine saves to keep Atlanta's lead intact.
He could not keep them out forever though, with Messi peeling away at the back post to nod in an equaliser in the 65th minute.
It was Slisz who would have the last say though, leaping high to power a header past Callender against the run of play, with Atlanta causing the biggest upset of the playoffs so far.
Data Debrief: One for the books
Miami were classed as the favourites to win the MLS Cup this year, but their defeat to Atlanta maybe should not be too big of a surprise, with this their third loss against them this season.
The Five Stripes ended a six-match winless run on the road in the play-offs (D1 L5), but have still conceded multiple goals in each of their last six such games.
Slisz is not known for his goalscoring, but he stepped up at the right time for Atlanta - it was just his second goal in MLS this season, and his first since May 18.
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