BRAVES vs. ASTROS- Official Full Game Highlights (September 18) - 2026 MLB Season

Undoubtedly a fan favorite beloved not only by the fans but as well by his teammates. We are so very happy to welcome back home Mauricio Dubon. Thank you Mauricio for all the great memories. I kind of had no idea how to go to the visiting clubhouse. But no, just good memories. We won a couple times here. It was pretty good. Seeing all the faces and everything. It's pretty special the love the fans have for me. It's very humbling. Peter Lambert who's been really good lately. Although he doesn't have a win to his name since the All-Star break. Not necessarily his fault. Hasn't been getting much run support. He's allowed three earned runs or less in every start since July. With one exception. Swing and a miss. Lambert getting the leadoff hitter Drake Baldwin on strikes to start this one. One down for Ronald Acuna. No score in the top of the first inning. That is near the bottom of the zone. In fact, Christian Vasquez is going to challenge. Christian Vasquez taking a shot here to get Acuna for the second out of the ball game. He's trying to help out Lambert. And he does. Excellent. So back-to-back strikeouts to start Lambert's evening. And that will bring up Matt Olsen. He's going to get a one, two, three inning here. This is playable. Christian Walker looking into the ceiling and makes the play. That is a strikeout, strikeout, pop-up first inning. A good start for Peter Lambert. It's a top-heavy lineup that Tyler Mallee will be facing tonight in his eighth start with the Atlanta Braves. It's been an unbelievable start for Tyler Mallee up to this point. We know the story, right? He's basically gotten rid of the slider. He has increased his split usage. That splitter has been excellent. Here's the thing, right? I mean, you're never going to intentionally walk a guy second batter of the game. You don't mind the walk. He has been on fire that much. He is such a dangerous bat in the box. He just looks like he's going to launch all the time. He has that kind of presence. Here comes Isak Paredes. Swing and a miss. A long at bat, but the splitter from Mallee eventually gets Paredes. So, two down after the strikeout. Here comes Jose Altuve. Lines is hard, but Jastrzemski is in the right spot. So, a walk in the bottom of the first, but we are scoreless after one. And one down in the second inning. Well, here he is, his first at bat back at Dykin Park, this time in a visiting uniform. Number 14, Mauricio Dubon. On the ground. Jose Altuve is there. He brought his buddy Mauricio Dubon for the second out. Brings up Ozzie Albies. Got him. Peter Lambert strikes out Albies to end the second inning. Three strikeouts for Peter. He's retired the first six. One down for Christian Walker. Swing and a miss. So, now Walker is 0 for his last 20. Mallee has two strikeouts tonight. Taylor Trammell at the plate with two outs. And he fans the breeze going after a splitter. So, Mallee with a 1-2-3 second. A couple of strikeouts. We've played two. We go to the top of the third. No score in Houston. So far, so good for Peter Lambert. Retired seven in a row now. Austin Riley is the batter. Called third strike. Austin Riley down. Looking at his four strikeouts of the first eight batters for Peter Lambert. Now he gets the ground ball on the full count pitch. Bobbled by Pena, and he's unable to make the play. He had the catcher, Sean Murphy, running. Jeremy couldn't find the handle on that slow ground ball. It's going to be a two-out base runner on an error by Pena. Here's Drake Baldwin. Gets a soft fly ball on the left. Playable for Lamont Wade Jr. And Peter works around the two-out error by Pena. They get Baldwin to end the inning. One man left on base. Still scoreless. One down for Matt Olsen. Olsen playing in his 38th career game in his ballpark. Line drive. And there's the Braves' first hit. Olsen shoots it to left center for a one-out single. Olsen put really good wood on that one. That's a one-out single, and that's the first hit of the game for either team. And now it's Michael Harris up for the play. So the Braves have their first hit. See if they can score their first run here in the top of the fourth inning. The other way off the bat of Harris. Deep toward the Crawford boxes. And there she goes. Two-run blast for Harris. Two to nothing, Atlanta. That's what you love about that 315 down the left field line. Not just the righties who can take advantage. The lefties can go the opposite way. Michael does. And for Michael, his 26th home run of the year. There's a deep drive off the bat of Dubon. Flying back. And that is off of the wall. Dubon digging for second. And he goes into second base standing. So Peter Lambert, so dominant, did not give up a hit through 11 hitters. And now it's been single, two-run homer, and a double off the wall. How quickly that changed. Ozzie digs in now. Shallow left field. Coming in for it, Lamont Wade Jr., the left fielder. And now Pena decides he wants it. The shortstop will take it. Mike Yastrzemski, the batter. Swing and a miss. Lambert strikes out Yastrzemski. Two runs in on three hits. One man left will go to the bottom of the fourth inning. Now the Astros will bat in the bottom of the fourth. Looking to answer with Yordan leading off. Malley has been good tonight since that Alvarez walk. He's retired everybody else until Yordan squids one down the third baseline. Bounces off the railing and Yordan cruises into second with a stand-up double. And he'll hug Mauricio Dubon. Actually, he bumps him. There's no hugging involved anymore because their opponents will bump him after he hits a double the other way. Isak struck out his first time up. Paredes with two strikes goes the other way. Up the middle and through into center field. Yordan being weighed. It's a two-to-one game. Press with the RBI single. Runner on first base. Still nobody out. Here's Altuve. A little tapper. Altuve will hustle to first. And he's got an infield hit. Astros with three consecutive hits against Malley after having none of the first three innings. Very similar to what the Braves did to Peter Labert. Top half of the inning. Dalton Varsho the batter. Ground ball to the right side. Olsen wheels, fires. There's one at second. And Dubon holds. Varsho just too fleet of foot to have a return through to first base to attempt a double play. Thought it would be a fielder's choice putting runners on the corners with one out. Now Christian Walker the batter. To center field. Harris charging. Paredes at third. Are they going to send him? No. Too shallow. And all the runners stay put. They're at the corners now with two down. Here's Taylor Trammell. Ground ball. Olsen has it. And Malley keeps the Braves on top two-to-one working around the traffic. Olsen leading it off of the Braves in the top of the sixth inning. It's a two-one lead for the Braves. Olsen out to right field. Altuve can't get to it. And the Braves' first baseman is two for three tonight. Here comes Michael Harris. It was Harris with the homer in the fourth inning. And he smokes one up the middle. Boy, that jumped off his bat. Base hit in the center field. So two hot shots by Olsen and Harris. So the Braves in business. First and second from Mauricio Dubon. Hit in the air to center. Sending Varsho back. Tagging at second is Olsen. Varsho makes the play. Olsen will get to third as Dubon flies out to pretty deep center for the first out. First and third now with one away. Ozzie with a chance to drive in his 72nd run of the season. He can walk the rest of the way to second base. But a decision here for Joe Espada. I think he's got to go get him. That's a pretty bad miss and a full count right there. And that's what he's going to do. That'll be the night for Lambert after 87 pitches. So Lambert is out. A.J. Blubaugh is in here for the 60th time this year. Atlanta has loaded the bases with one out. Olsen at third. Harris at second. Albies at first. And Mike Yastrzemski the batter. Yastrzemski 0 for 2. Got him! Big strikeout for Blubaugh coming back from 2-0 in the count. To strike out Yastrzemski with the next three pitches. That's a big step towards getting out of this inning. Austin Riley two strikeouts against Lambert. Now he sees a new pitcher here in A.J. Blubaugh with two down in the bases loaded. Broken back. Caught by Altuve. Braves strand the bases loaded. What a job by A.J. Blubaugh. A strikeout and a soft line out to get through the inning. Walking Baldwin here with one out in the seventh. Now Acuna coming to the plate. He's 0 for 3 tonight. But if you look at what he's done over the last few weeks. He's done a great job getting the fastballs. You can see it there. He's now reached base in 17-19. Oh there it goes. Deep to left. And gone! Another two-run shot to the Crawford Boxes. 4-1 Atlanta. Cued up perfectly by one Christopher John Kowalski. We don't see it a lot from him. Right where he gets upset, he clearly was angry about a couple of his at-bats. He knows this guy's got a good heater. He has been better against the heater. He sat on one. He got started early. He was on time. Two down for Michael Harris. Michael's had a good night. Single at a two-run homer. There's another hit. A three-hit game for Michael Harris. He has the third most three-hit games in Major League Baseball this year. And he strikes again here on September 18th. Two outs for Dubon. This time he takes an 0-2 pitch and deposits it into center field for a single. Back-to-back two-out hits. Harris and Dubon. Albies walked in the sixth inning. Been the only time he's been on base tonight. Outside of that, a strikeout and a pop-out. Grounded to the right side. Altuve's going to have to hurry. And he does to get Albies for the final out of the inning. Braves get two in the seventh on the two-run home run by Acuna Jr. They end up with three hits and a walk in the inning. And they lead it 4-1. Malley retired the last nine that he faced. And now Fuentes looking for four in a row retired since entering. This one looped into left center. Dubon out. Coming in Yastrzemski. It drops right in between them. That'll be a leadoff base hit for Lamont Wade Jr. to start the eighth. Now Yiner Diaz will bat. Struck him out. 99. Beat him to the spot. And you owe for three tonight. And a fly ball to left. In line with it, Yastrzemski traps in. And that falls into his glove for out number two. Now two down for Alvarez. This is a crossroads right here. Because you're thinking you have the lefty Lee up for a potential matchup with Alvarez. But Fuentes pitching so well, they're probably thinking, let's stick with him and see if he can get the big guy out. He did not want a piece of Jordan. Even though it brings a tying run to the plate. A four-pitch walk. So now two on with two out. And Isak Paredes the batter. There is a ball into left field for a base hit. In to score Lamont Wade. RBI single for Isak Paredes for the second time tonight. It's now a 4-2 game. Altuve and infield hit in three trips. Struck out his last time. Altuve to right field. Acuna charging. He gets it in the eighth and keep it 4-2. Ronald Acuna makes the catch and holds on. And that saves the day. Drake Baldwin the batter. He's singled, walked, and scored in four trips. Baldwin crushes it. Right center. Off the wall. Just missing a homer. He'll settle for a leadoff double. Couple of singles tonight for Matt Olsen. He hasn't had a double in 15 games though. Rare for Matt. He's got 33 of them on the season. Olsen with a fly ball to deep left. Way on back and way gone. It's another two-run home run. And it's the 40th of the season for Matt Olsen. How about another lefty going into the Crawford boxes. These guys love it here. And that just feels like a back-breaking blow to Houston here tonight. Right-hander, Rysel Iglesias. And he's been consistent. No save opportunity tonight. Just need a zero. One and two with two down here tonight. Braves win. And they are in. Atlanta's 90th victory. And he punches their ticket to October. And they will be going back to the postseason. They expect to be going back as division winners, but they certainly can enjoy the moment here tonight.