Reds vs. Braves Game Highlights (9/23/26) | MLB Highlights

Mesmerizing, jaw-dropping, any way you slice it, Chris Sale has been lights out. He is the oldest pitcher since Curt Schilling to lead Major League Baseball in strikeouts to walk ratio. Got to go back to 2006. And how about the lowest home run rate? The oldest since Dutch Leonard back in 1949. And it's not just the stats he's putting up, it's the way he's doing it with the best velocity of his career. And for Chris Sale, he'll make his 27th and final start of the regular season tonight. Juan Brito, switch hitting right fielder, climbs in. Chris looks to be ready. And he swings and whacks this one pretty good to center field. Back on the run is Harris. Harris leaps at the wall. It is gone! Juan Brito takes Chris Sale deep to straightaway center field. And the Reds have an early one-run advantage. Not the guy you expected, huh? No, and just the 10th homer that Chris has allowed this year. But boy, Brito picked on a 3-1 pitch. High fastball. We've seen it so little against Sale this year, and it's a rookie and just his third homer. Elevated fastball here, 10th home run of the year against Chris Sale. De La Cruz, a sword on the slider. He is down on strikes. We're talking about the historic season for Chris Sale, another great season for him. Should he win tonight, it would be the 15th win this season for him. That would be the fifth time in his 16-year career that he's won 15 or more games. Back-to-back strikeouts, and now he is eight away from 200 on this season. He would only be the second lefty now to do it nine times, it seemed to Randy Johnson. At 37 years old, throwing as hard now as he's ever thrown in his entire life. Two down for Dane Myers. Brewer-Hicklin getting the start instead of Acuna in right tonight. Backs up, makes the catch. So a solo homer, then Sale settles in. It's the 27-year-old making his 32nd and final start of the year, Andrew Abbott. I've been a little bit of a rough go of it here for Abbott with that 4.7 ERA low strikeout rate of 18%. And a wave and a miss. He got Baldwin to chase the breaking ball down and away. And Baldwin strikes out to open the game for Atlanta. That brings Ozzie Albies up to the plate. The 3-1 is hit in the air left field. But there is the left fielder, Oswaldo Cabrera, fading toward the line. He makes the catch, and that does it for the Braves in the first. 1-0 Reds into the top of the second inning. They'll be sending up Suarez, McClain, and Cabrera. Sale's got a strikeout, and so Suarez is now 0 for 16 with 12 strikeouts against Sale when they have faced off. It's absolutely incredible to see the domination from Chris Sale here against Eugenio Suarez. One down for Matt McClain. 184 hitter, but 15 home runs this season. Chase hit a miss as McClain strikes out. Slider takes care of him. Four strikeouts now for Chris Sale. So he's now tied Frank Tanana for 26th all-time. See if he can strike out the side. Here's Oswaldo Cabrera. Got him swinging for strike three, and he's passed Frank Tanana for 26th all-time. And it sure is a pleasure watching Chris continue to climb the ladder on the all-time strikeout list. And they save that baseball. Here's Juan Brito, who hit that surprising home run off of Sale to start the ballgame. And the pitch is swung on. That's going to be a base hit. And Juan Brito is two for two against Chris Sale. Keeps the inning alive for the Reds. Boy, Juan Brito just loves hitting against Chris Sale. One-nothing Reds. Here comes Elie De La Cruz. Ooh, yeah, challenge that thing. You're going to get a six strikeout right here. Looked like it did catch the bottom of the zone. T-Mobile challenge. There it is. A half dozen for Chris Sale. And this time he's serving up some frozen pizza to Elie De La Cruz. With the Reds on top, one-nothing. We go to the top of the fourth inning. They'll be sitting up Stewart, Myers, and Suarez versus Chris Sale. Chris with six strikeouts in the game. He needs four more to reach 200 for the season. Blew it by him with a 97-mile-an-hour fastball. He is cooking tonight. Dane Myers 0-for-1 with a fly out to right field. And he bites the dust. Chasing after a fastball. He had no shot. Another strikeout for Chris. He has eight in the game. He barely even needs a defense behind him tonight. So now Matt McClain swung on. A little looper and a short right that's going to fall on the back edge of the infield dirt and go trickling into right field. Suarez will go around to third to throw. It is tracked down by Riley. McClain watching closely at first, but hangs on there. With a base hit the other way. And now with two outs, the Reds have a little something brewing here against Sale with men at the corners. Runner takes off for second. They will throw down there. Got him, yes. Baldwin with a good strike to get McClain. Tell you what, I didn't think he had a chance here. This is pretty incredible from Drake Baldwin. This is not an easy pitch to handle at all. But fires off a bullet on the mark to nail McClain. You know, this guy Abbott is showing everybody how. I know his record is not all that impressive. Doesn't blow you away. But he knows how to pitch. He's not throwing 98 or 99. He's pitching. And he's doing a great job of it tonight. Swing and a miss. And down on strikes Austin Riley. Abbott has a 1-2-3 fourth inning. That's his first of the game as he strikes out his fourth batter to close out the Braves' fourth. Still 1-0 Reds through four in Atlanta. Bottom third of the order for the Reds. They lead 1-0. Cabrera swings. Little cue shot roller just inside the bag. And somehow it rolls right on by Olsen. Down the line into second base Cabrera. A little cue shot off the bat of Cabrera that on the ground was slicing toward the line. And it just grounded and hooked right around the first base bag and then went rolling down the line. It was as though the ball was just running away from Olsen. Here's Will Banfield, the catcher, fly to center his first time. There you go. There it is. 199 of the season. And you felt like you really needed this one, right, to have a shot to get to 10. You got two batters now. Bottom of the order, Key Brian Hayes. There it is. Is it going to go foul? No, it's in play. And Austin Riley, good throw across to get Hayes. Now the man who has had sales number tonight, Juan Brito, is homered and single. It's in play. And Riley throws across, so sale does not get that strikeout. The sixth inning will be interesting. Chris Sale is indeed back out there for the sixth inning. He'll face the heart of the Reds order, trailing one to nothing. Nine punch-outs for Chris Sale. He needs one more to reach 200 for the year. Called strike. Is he going to challenge? Oh, thank God, he is. He does it. Another 200 strikeout season for Chris Sale. The ninth of his career. The big board here at Drewis Park. Tell you, boys, Chris Sale better send Sal Stewart a cocktail after this game. The irony, right? Nobody has challenged him in baseball more than Sal Stewart, and he doesn't challenge there. He will walk out to a standing ovation. Matt Olsen blooped to double the left his first time up. Oh. Is that going to end the scoring drought? Deep to center. Track. Matt Olsen with home run number 41. That puts an end to the shutout streak and got the fans on their feet. How about hanging in on this left-on-left sweep, where you see it pop out of the hand of Andrew Abbott and stay up in the zone, giving Matt Olsen a chance to handle that thing. And he goes 4-15 out to Chattahoochee Falls. Robert Suarez has not been in a game for the Braves since June 19th. He's been on the shelf with inflammation in his elbow, but he's activated, and he's in the game tonight. He's going to start the seventh inning. Suarez quickly throws one in there, and Matt McClain knocks it the opposite way, and he's rounding second base. As he gets that ball off the right-field wall and a stand-up triple to lead off the top of the seventh inning for the Reds. Well, the infield remains in for Will Banfield. Swung on. That's going to be do it. In the left field, here comes the left fielder, Dubon. It's not very deep. Here comes a throw to the plate, and safe! And Matt McClain slides in headfirst. I believe that ball may have ticked off his back. And he comes in to break the tie and make it a 2-1 ballgame. Nice job by Banfield. Did just as you said. Got the ball in the air. First career RBI for Will Banfield on that sack fly to the left fielder. 2-1 Reds into the bottom of the seventh. Austin Riley leading off. Andrew Abbott still on the mound. Center field. This might tie the ballgame. Does it have enough juice? Yes! Riley leaves the yard 2-2. Brandon, where did that one end up? Chattahoochee Falls. This ball was driven to dead center here. 4-0-9 off the bat. You can tell it backed it up. Up in the zone, he goes up and gets it. Put the sweet spot right on it and launched it to the deepest part of the yard. And Austin Riley grounds the sacks for the 18th time this season. And we're tied at two in the seventh. But two down now for Michael Harris. As the pitch is grounded right back up the middle, it has some wicked spin. Ellie fields it on the shortstop side of the bag. Throw late to first. Harris beats it. That ball initially started on the second-base side of the bag. It had some wicked English on it, and Ellie had to back up and ended up backhanding that ball on the shortstop side of the bag. For now, it's an infield hit. The Reds want him to look at it in New York. I think it actually hit Ashcraft on the back of his leg as the ball went through the mound. Well, a couple of things are at play. It might have hit Ashcraft. It also might have glanced off the bag at second base. He's gonna be out. The field is overturned. The runner's out. Cincinnati will retain their challenge. So that will be a 1-6-3 put out, and that ends the Braves' eighth inning. Former Brave Pierce Johnson comes on for his 55th appearance for the Reds. He's 2-1 with a .482 ERA and a saved curveball artist, really fastball in the mid-90s, but a good curveball and a cutter. And a swing and a foul tipped down on strikes. Riley's Banfield holds on to strike three. One gone here in the ninth inning. Dominick has seen Pierce Johnson four times in his career. He's 0-4 with a walk and three strikeouts, but going with a left-handed bat against the righty. Swing and a miss. He struck him out. He got Smith with a fastball up and away and back-to-back strikeouts to begin the ninth inning for Pierce Johnson. So two down, and here comes Jastrzemski. Andrew Jastrzemski skies a pop-up high into the air on the back edge of the left side of the infield. Ellie's under it. He's got it. And that does it for the Braves here in the ninth. Three up, three down for Pierce Johnson. And Shooter out there for the tenth inning. He's on for the twelfth time as a Brave. 1-0 with a .190 ERA since coming over at the deadline. That's in there. That's a nice changeup. That was beautiful. Cabrera's frozen. That's 15 strikeouts for Braves pitchers tonight. And the Reds now need a base hit. Left-hander against left-hander. The pitch to Bladet. Bladet pitch hits. First pitch he sees. Pops to Ozzie. What a job by Brett Shooter. And the Braves will try to walk it off when we get back. And on the mound is Luis May. Twenty-six games, 5.85 ERAs. Given up three homers in 32 and a third. Pretty simple. Two-seam fastball that sits at 98 miles an hour to go along with a slider. There's the bunt. That'll work. By a step. With that single earlier tonight, 11-game hit streak for DuBois. And now he'll try to put the finishing touches on the Reds here. Buried into the base. Over. As well for Mauricio DuBois. What a night this was. You think about games that feel like maybe they don't matter at this point. But to watch Chris Sale get to 200 strikeouts, Mauricio DuBois gets his first bubblegum bucket hat of his Atlanta Braves career. Nice night at the ballpark.