Braves advance to NLDS after historic dominance of Reds' offense
The Atlanta Braves have advanced to the National League Division Series after defeating the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 in Game 2 of the wild-card series on Thursday.
Rookie starter Ian Anderson struck out nine batters in six scoreless innings and Ronald Acuna Jr. put Atlanta on top for good when he drilled an RBI double in the fifth inning.
Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall each hit two-run homers off Reds closer Raisel Iglesias in the eighth inning to extend the Braves' lead. The dingers were Iglesias' first long balls allowed since July 25.
The Reds failed to score a run over 22 innings during the two games, the longest scoreless streak to start a postseason in MLB history, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com. Cincinnati also became the first team to be held scoreless in a postseason in which a club played multiple games, Langs notes.
Reds hitters this series: pic.twitter.com/i0ZNemloUm
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 1, 2020
The Reds' starters - Trevor Bauer and Luis Castillo - came as advertised in the series, combining for 19 strikeouts over 13 innings while allowing only one run between them. The team's bats just couldn't take advantage.
"The starters were so excellent," veteran first baseman Joey Votto said, according to C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic. "Other than a late-inning blip, (but) I don't want to speak on that because our bullpen was good also. Our guys were so good. ... Luis was excellent again.
"We just didn't do enough on our side. Not enough offense, just not good enough."
Meanwhile, it was a total about-face for the Braves' rotation after Atlanta's starters combined for an NL-worst 5.51 ERA in the regular season.
It's the Braves' first playoff series win since the 2001 NLDS. They had lost 10 consecutive series.
Atlanta will face either the Miami Marlins or the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-five NLDS starting next week.