Hunter Brown lets up two runs in win vs. Rangers

Crews singled in the top half of the first inning and came around to score on a throwing error. He then crushed a 379-foot two-run blast off of Kyle Leahy in the third inning that increased the Nationals’ advantage to 5-0. For the season, the 24-year-old outfielder is now hitting .225/.291/.377 with 12 long balls, 42 RBI and nine swipes in 409 plate appearances.

Morales delivered a two-run double in the third inning that increased the Nationals’ early lead to 7-0. The 24-year-old is off to a terrific start to his MLB career, slashing .294/.294/.588 with two homers, six RBI and a stolen base in his first 34 plate appearances.

Cavalli piled up six strikeouts on the night while scattering just four hits — all singles — without walking a batter. The only real threat against him came in the second inning as the Cardinals started with a pair of singles, but Cavalli was able to escape without any damage being done. He got 11 swings and misses on 73 offerings on the night, registering an elite CSW of 37 percent. Now 13-5 on the season, he’ll bring an impressive 3,02 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and a 200/48 K/BB ratio (169 2/3 innings) into his final start of the season against the Tigers in Detroit on Wednesday.

Church led off the eighth inning with a double off of Jack Sinclair then came around to score on a ground ball off the bat of Ivan Herrera. That would be his only hit in three at-bats on the night and was the Cardinals’ only extra-base hit in the ballgame. For the season, the 26-year-old outfielder is slashing .252/.298/.373 with 10 homers, 50 RBI and 10 swipes in 444 plate appearances.

Leahy also issued three walks in the contest while recording only one strikeout. The Nationals got to him early and often in this one, scratching out three runs in the opening inning before piling on with four more including a two-run blast by Dylan Crews in the third. Leahy got just three swings and misses on 61 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of only 25 percent. He’ll try to finish the season strong as he carries a 3.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and a 129/41 K/BB ratio (138 innings) into Thursday’s battle against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

Megill entered the ninth inning with a 5-3 lead, but allowed back-to-back hits to start the inning to suddenly find himself with runners on second and third and no outs. The Orioles would then get sacrifice flies from Samuel Basallo and Christian Encarnacion-Strand in back-to-back at-bats to tie the game at 5-5, with Megill going on to strike out Heston Kjerstad to end the inning. Megill wouldn’t return in the 10th inning, but was handed the win after the Brewers took a 6-5 lead on an RBI single by Sal Frelick. Reliever Chad Patrick would come on in the 10th and pitch a perfect inning to secure the win for the Brewers while tallying his sixth save of the season. Friday marked just the third blown save of the season for Megill and was his first since June 5th against the Rockies.

Acuña helped Atlanta secure a playoff spot for the eighth time in the last nine years when he blasted a no-doubter to left field off Astros workhorse reliever AJ Blubaugh in the seventh inning. It was his sixth round-tripper in 16 games since the outset of September. The 28-year-old fantasy superstar is just one home run shy of posting a 20-homer, 20-steal campaign for the first time since his historic 41-homer, 73-steal effort back in 2023. He may never reach those lofty heights again, but he’s proven he can be an impactful power/speed combo threat, even if he doesn’t come close to playing a full season ever again.

Paredes was one of the few bright spots in this one as Houston remains narrowly ahead of the Rangers in the AL West division race. He put the Astros on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the fourth inning before tacking on another in the eighth. He’s up to 88 RBI with just over one week left in the regular season.

Olson capped off a three-hit performance by reaching the lofty 40-homer plateau for the second time in his career when he took Astros reliever Enyel De Los Santos deep in the ninth inning. He last accomplished the feat back in 2023 when he launched a whopping 54 big flies in his second season with Atlanta.

Mahle has been an unexpected revelation since coming over from the Giants at the trade deadline, posting a microscopic 1.28 ERA across eight starts in an Atlanta uniform. The lone tally against him in this one came on an RBI single from Isaac Paredes in the fourth inning as he allowed just four basrunners over six frames. There’s a chance that the Braves shuffle their rotation around for the postseason, but Mahle is in line to take the ball against the Reds for his final regular season outing on Thursday.