José Ramírez doubles twice in victory

There’s really no stopping this guy. In addition to the two homers, Crow-Armstrong hit his eighth triple too. There isn’t a shadow of a doubt that he’s going to win his first MVP award and now with 44 home runs, he has a shot to chase down Kyle Schwarber for the crown in that department. Apart from the many, many steps forward he’s taken forward as a power hitter. It’s been amazing to watch Crow-Armstrong’s eye develop this season. The walk he drew in this game was his 78th. That’s significantly more than the 50 total he drew over the last two full seasons combined. There’s no better spectacle in the game right now and it’s going to be a treat to watch this version of Crow-Armstrong in the playoffs.

Imanaga had a special feel for his splitter in this one. He was commanding it very well in the early innings, so he continued to push its usage up as the game wore on. On the season, he’s thrown it 34% of the time. In this game, it was at a nearly 50% usage rate and forced an eye-popping 14 swings-and-misses. That’s tied for the third-most whiffs from that pitch in a single outing this season and each of the top three marks have come in the last month. He’s incredibly difficult to hit when that pitch is toppling over like it has been lately and he’s scheduled to face the Marlins next week in his regular season finale.

Down big by the fifth inning, the Braves did their best to get back into this game late but never got particularly close. Acuña Jr. did his best to help with that pursuit, first scorching a double and coming around to score in the sixth and then singling with one out in the eighth. It’s been an uncharacteristically slow – relative to his lofty standards – season at the plate for him with just 18 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and a .798 OPS in 100 games that’s including multiple trips to the injured list with two left hamstring strains.

Ritchie dealt with a lot of chaos early in this game and was ineffective overall. In the first inning, he walked two batters and gave up a double but got out of that inning with just one run on the board because of a double play and Alex Bregman being thrown out trying to take an extra base. Then he let up a double to start the second, but wriggled out of that jam with two timely strikeouts. Solo home runs from Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman followed in the next two frames and a three-run rally in the fifth and Ritchie was yanked then and there. He now has a 5.03 ERA as a rookie and it would be difficult to see the Braves trusting him as part of their playoff staff. Before then, he could get another start against the Reds at home next week given all the uncertainty in Atlanta’s rotation.

It was Yelich’s only hit in five at-bats, and it almost seemed like an accident, as he slapped a fastball down the third base line for what he thought was going to be a foul ball. It stayed fair, though, and the Brewers went on to win a game in which they were outhomered three to zero.

Henderson struck out eight, but he gave up a solo homer to Oneil Cruz in the fourth and then a two-run shot to Brandon Lowe in the fifth. It’s the first time in six starts that he’s allowed three runs, and he still hasn’t exceeded that total in 17 starts on the season. He’ll take a 2.51 ERA into a start next week against the Phillies.

It looks like Drohan, who gave up five runs in 3 1/3 innings in his last start Saturday, is going to finish out the year in the pen, and the Brewers put him right into a leverage situation tonight. He entered with one out and one on and the Brewers up by one and got a double play ball after allowing a single. He then started the eighth, only to be pulled after Oneil Cruz’s leadoff single. Still, it went as a hold, his first since May 12.

He fanned Spencer Horwitz and Jake Mangum before getting Konnor Griffin to ground out. Megill was working for a second straight night, so he’ll probably be down Thursday. Abner Uribe could close then.

Two of the runs came in the second. Jones started the inning with two outs, only to then give up four straight singles, none of them coming on hard-hit balls. That ended his scoreless streak at 14 innings. The nine strikeouts matched his season high, as he reached that total for the third time. He’s slated to make his next start Tuesday against the Cardinals. It’s set up to be a two-start week for him, but if he pitches in the season finale, we imagine it’d be a short outing.

The Dodgers are bringing up Landon Knack from Triple-A to cover the bulk of the contest after burning through most of their bullpen after Blake Snell left Wednesday’s game after just one inning.