Braves Beat Phillies 6-2 in Winner-Take-All Wild Card Game 3, Advance to Face Dodgers
The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the MLB Wild Card round at Truist Park on Oct. 1 (U.S. Eastern time), winning the series two games to one and advancing to the NLDS against the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, according to ESPN.
Michael Harris II set the tone with a three-run homer in the first inning, and Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson added home runs of their own. The surprise hero was 32-year-old left-hander Ray Kerr, an unheralded opener who worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings; Kerr had Tommy John surgery in 2024 and had thrown only 72 2/3 big-league innings in his career before this start. Veteran Chris Sale also contributed in relief. Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola could not contain Atlanta's lineup.
The win avenged Atlanta's postseason eliminations by Philadelphia in the previous two seasons. Game 1 of the Braves-Dodgers NLDS was scheduled for Oct. 3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Atlanta's manager singled out Kerr's opening stint as the turning point: in a bullpen game with no conventional starter available, his 3 1/3 scoreless innings settled the team. Philadelphia, eliminated in its first round for a third straight year, faces a pressured offseason. The Braves-Dodgers series renews a postseason rivalry last seen in the 2020 NLCS.
Photo: 亚特兰大勇士主场 Truist Park 实景，CC0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Thomson200）
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：亚特兰大勇士主场Truist Park（原SunTrust Park）右外野看台视角的比赛夜景。摄影：Thomson200，CC0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
