Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves

· Major League Baseball

Tampa Bay Rays

87-58, 40-33 Away

Final
7 - 2

Atlanta Braves

85-61, 48-26 Home

Victor Mesa Jr. hits homer in support of Jax as Rays top Braves 7-2 in matchup of first-place teams

Including a 7-1 win on Tuesday night, the Rays have outscored the Braves 14-3 in the first two games of the three-game series.

AL East-leading Tampa Bay hit four homers in Tuesday night's win. Mesa's homer was the Rays' only extra-base hit on Wednesday night, but Tampa Bay outhit Atlanta 10-3 and added three steals. Jorge Mateo had a two-run single in a three-run second inning.

Drake Baldwin's homer in the fourth was the only run allowed by Jax (7-10).

The Rays remained four games ahead of the New York Yankees in the AL East with a magic number of four to clinch their first postseason berth since 2023. The Braves saw their NL East lead over Philadelphia reduced to three games.

Braves right-hander Reynaldo López (4-4) allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings in his first appearance since July 26.

López was reinstated from the injured list after missing 34 games with left knee inflammation. Right-hander Elieser Hernández was designated for assignment, left-hander Bailey Falter was recalled and right-hander Bryce Elder was placed on the 15-day injured list following right knee surgery on Tuesday.

Falter pitched two perfect innings with one strikeout.

Up next Braves LHP Martín Pérez (8-9, 3.25) is scheduled to face Rays RHP Nick Martinez (14-4, 3.04) in Thursday's final game of the series.

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Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Dubón lined out to second.
	9th Inning	Harris II walked.
	9th Inning	Olson grounded out to second.
	9th Inning	Acuña Jr. struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Caminero lined out to left.
	9th Inning	Aranda grounded out to second.

Statistics

TB		ATL
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
1	Hit By Pitch	0
13	Ground Balls	5
6	Strikeouts	5
7	Runs Batted In	2
1	Sacrifice Hit	0
10	Hits	3
3	Stolen Bases	0
3	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
7	Runs	2
1	Ground Into Double Play	0
1	Sacrifice Flies	1
33	At Bats	28
1	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
9	Runners Left On Base	5
0	Triples	0
1	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
0	Doubles	1
16	Fly Balls	19
1	Caught Stealing	1
125	Pitches	128
0	Games Started	0
0	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
1	Is Qualified In Steals	1
13	Total Bases	7
39	Plate Appearances	32
162.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
1	Extra Base Hits	2
5.2	Runs Created	0.8
.303	Batting Average	.107
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.394	Slugging Percentage	.250
.242	Secondary Average	.214
.368	On Base Percentage	.188
.762	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.438
0.8	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	0.3
5.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	0.8
44.0	Batter Rating	16.0
33.0	At Bats Per Home Run	28.0
0.75	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.21	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	4.00
.091	Isolated Power	.143
0.50	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.60
.077	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.094
-.061	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	.107
14.0	Runs Produced	4.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	1.0
0.5	Patience Ratio	0.3
0.3	Balls In Play Average	0.1
90.8	MLB Rating	66.3
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0