MIAMI — The Atlanta Braves don’t yet know if the next seven games they’ll play will be followed by a short turnaround before the postseason or what figures to be a painfully long offseason.
Either way, they figure there’s no reason not to give it everything they’ve got with just a week left in Major League Baseball’s regular season.
Matt Olson broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run homer, and the Braves beat the Miami Marlins 6-2 on Saturday afternoon to stay two games behind the New York Mets for the third and final National League wild card in the playoff race.
Like the Braves and Marlins at LoanDepot Park, the Mets are playing a weekend series between NL East Division clubs at their Citi Field, and they wrapped up a 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Phillies about the time Atlanta was finishing off its victory in Miami.
Second-place New York’s win prevented the division-leading Phillies from clinching the NL East crown. The Mets are the only other team not eliminated from the title race, but they sit six games back. Atlanta’s bid for a seventh straight NL East title ended Friday night with its 4-3 loss to the Marlins and Philadelphia’s 12-2 win at New York to clinch a playoff berth.
Gio Urshela and Jorge Soler also went deep for the Braves in Saturday’s bounce-back triumph, while Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris II each had three hits.
Atlanta starting pitcher Max Fried allowed two runs (one earned) and five hits over six innings. Fried (10-10) walked one batter, struck out six and reached double-digit wins for the fourth time in his MLB career.
Fried is among multiple key players for Atlanta who have spent time on the injured list this year.
“It’s the time of the year and where we’re at — I have two starts left — so you’ve got to dig deep,” said the 30-year-old left-hander, who made his MLB debut in August 2017 and was an All-Star this season for the second time. “Every ounce of what I had today, I wanted to make sure I left it out there.”
Olson connected off reliever Lake Bachar (0-1), sending his 29th homer of the season over the wall in right-center field to snap a 2-all tie. Later in the inning, Urshela chased Bachar with a two-run drive that landed in the seats beyond left field.
“So happy for Matt for where he is right now,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of the 30-year-old first baseman, who has had his share of struggles at the plate this season after career highs of 54 homers and 139 RBIs last year. “When you look up, he’s pushing 30 (homers) and 100 (RBIs).
“And Gio — what power in that guy. That was big. Nice to score those runs.”
Olson has 16 homers since July 27 and 28 extra-base hits since Aug. 1.
“I was looking for something to drive,” Olson said of his go-ahead homer. “I wanted to see something in the zone, and he left a fastball kind of off the middle.”
Pierce Johnson, Joe Jiménez and Raisel Iglesias each worked a scoreless inning in relief for Atlanta, which closes out its three-game series in Miami on Sunday before back-to-back three-game series at home against the Mets and the American League’s Kansas City Royals, who are also chasing a spot in the postseason.
Harris also made two spectacular plays in center field, robbing Connor Norby and Derek Hill of extra-base hits with running catches in the first and eighth innings.
“You’re getting to a point where you’re having a pretty long highlight film with what he’s doing,” Snitker said.
Olson hit an RBI single in the fifth that put the Braves ahead 2-1. Ozzie Albies, 0-for-4 a day earlier in his return to the lineup after a two-month absence due to injury, singled and then advanced on a walk to Ozuna before racing home on Olson’s line drive to left.
The Marlins tied it in the sixth when Jonah Bride scored from second on a throwing error by Albies at second base as he tried for a double play.
Hill’s RBI triple in the first gave Miami a quick lead before Soler tied it with a leadoff homer against starter Adam Oller in the second.
Oller was lifted after 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed two runs and eight hits, walked two batters and struck out seven.
“I thought he was really good, threw a lot of first-pitch strikes,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “He got out of a couple of tough innings as well. It shows that he has stuff that should play up here and should be enough to be in a rotation.”
On the injury front, Atlanta right-handed starter Reynaldo López (shoulder inflammation) played long toss in the latest step of his rehabilitation. López has been sidelined since Sept. 10.
Right-handers are scheduled to start on the mound for both teams Sunday with Atlanta’s Grant Holmes (2-1, 3.84 ERA) pitted against Miami’s Darren McCaughan (0-0, 7.64).