Cincinnati Reds 3, Atlanta Braves 2

The Braves failed to clinch the division tonight. The magic number was at 2 and the Marlins lost to make it 1, but the Braves bats were silenced by the Reds pitching (not a good sign). At least the Braves will get a chance to clinch at home tonight against the Marlins themselves.

Jaret Wright (15-8) pitched well but picked up the loss. The sportsline recap said that he had "been drained by flu-like symptoms," but despite that he pitched 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts. He had a shutout going into the 6th when the Reds were finally able to break through after threatening in the 4th and the 5th. Kevin Gryboski came on to pitch in the 7th but didn't have it, as he gave up a run and only got 1 out. Tom Martin did a good job to keep out of any more trouble, and Antonio Alfonseca and Juan Cruz each pitched a scoreless inning in the 8th and 9th innings, respectively.

The Braves took a 1-0 lead into the 6th inning. They scored it on an unearned run in the first, but Wright allowed 2 runners to get on base in the 6th, then missed a throw back to him from the catcher which allowed the runner on 2nd to get to 3rd base (I haven't seen that since the Mets did it in 2001). A sacrifice fly scored the first run and allowed the runner on 1st to get to 2nd, then Sean Casey singled up the middle through a drawn-in infield to take the lead. They scored the insurance run off of Gryboski in the 7th, and held on in the 9th when they walked the bases loaded but allowed just one run to win. The Braves didn't have a single hit with RISP in the game.

Hitting Stars: Julio Franco had 2 hits. Marcus Giles reached base 3 times. Rafael Furcal, JD Drew, Johnny Estrada, and Andruw Jones all reached base twice.

Russ Ortiz (14-9) faces Ismael Valdez (13-8) at 7:30 on TBS tonight as the Braves try to clinch the division.