Braves drop into wild-card tie with Mets, lose 3-1 to Rockies as Toglia and Tovar homer

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves dropped into a tie for the final NL wild card berth, losing 3-1 to…

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Braves dropped into a tie for the final NL wild card berth, losing 3-1 to Colorado on Thursday night as Michael Toglia and Ezequiel Tovar hit solo home runs for the Rockies.

Atlanta and New York are both 76-64 with 22 games left, eight games back of NL East-leading Philadelphia.

Austin Gomber (5-10) allowed one run and five hits in eight innings, matching his season high. He struck out six and walked none.

Tyler Kinley pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances as Colorado avoided a three-game sweep and ended an eight-game losing streak at Truist Park

Atlanta, which had won 16 of its previous 19 games against the Rockies, didn’t get a runner to second base after the second inning.

Reynaldo López (8-5) gave up both solo homers and five hits in six innings with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

Ramón Laureano hit an RBI single in the first.

Toglia tied the score in the second with 11th home run, a 451-drive on a hanging curveball that landed over the trees beyond the center field wall. It was his first home run this year on an 0-2 pitch.

Tovar homered in the sixth, over the the Rockies bullpen and into the left-field bleachers. Toglia and Tovar are tied with Brenton Doyle for the team lead with 22 homers each.

Toglia walked against Luke Jackson, stole second and continued to third on catcher Sean Murphy’s errant throw, then scored on Nolan Jones’ sacrifice fly.

UP NEXT

Rockies: RHP Ryan Feltner (1-10, 5.11) opens a three-game series Friday at Milwaukee, which starts RHP Frankie Montas (6-9, 4.70).

Braves LHP Max Fried (8-8, 3.52) faces Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-10, 4.07) in the first game of a three-game series at home on Friday.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb