Atlanta now turns to a stretch that could shape the rest of its season.
Matt Olson lined a single to right field in the 10th inning Sunday, and the Atlanta Braves had exactly the finish they wanted.
The 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies at Truist Park completed a three-game sweep and pushed the winning streak to seven games in a row.
Ronald Acuña Jr. had led off the inning with a single that moved automatic runner Brewer Hicklen to third base, and Olson followed with the base hit that brought him home.
It capped a perfect six-game homestand, three wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers followed by three more over Colorado, and it sent the Braves into the final stretch looking like a different team than the one that stumbled through parts of August.
A Perfect Homestand Comes to a Close
Sunday's game did not come easy, even with the sweep on the line.
Sean Murphy homered in the third and Ronald Acuña Jr. added an RBI single in the same inning to make it 2-0, but Jake McCarthy answered with a solo shot in the sixth, and the Rockies tied it in the eighth on a run-scoring single off Dylan Lee.
Tyler Mahle kept Atlanta ahead most of the way, working 6.2 innings and allowing just one run on five hits while striking out nine, and Raisel Iglesias and Victor Mederos each added a scoreless inning behind him.
Olson has 37 home runs this season, but his biggest hit of the day did not leave the ballpark.
What the Streak Means Going Forward
Manager Walt Weiss kept his answer simple afterward.
"I'm proud of our guys for coming out here and taking care of business. All of it wasn't pretty, but the bottom line is we swept the series, which is hard to do," Weiss said.
That sums up a stretch that has turned the Braves from a team facing questions into one of the hottest clubs in baseball.
Atlanta is 82-55 this season and remains alone in first place in the National League East.
The offense had gone cold for stretches of August and the pitching staff had to cover for it, but for one homestand everything clicked at once.
Atlanta swept the Dodgers behind a stretch that included an emotional shutout performance from Chris Sale, then took care of a Colorado team that came in well under .500.
The Braves host the San Francisco Giants on Monday in a game postponed back in June, then travel to Washington for two games against the Nationals before a bigger series awaits in Philadelphia next week.
The Pitching Staff Has Taken Some Hits
Health has not cooperated for the rotation all year, and it has needed every one of these wins.
Spencer Strider has been on the 60-day injured list since the middle of June with inflammation in his right elbow, and Weiss said this week it is unlikely Strider pitches for Atlanta again this season, though the team has not made it official.
Hurston Waldrep and Spencer Schwellenbach are also done for the year with elbow injuries of their own, which leaves Mahle, Sale and the bullpen to carry the staff into September.
Given everything the staff has absorbed this year, seven straight wins and a perfect homestand are about as strong an answer as any.
