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| - Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall each smashed two-run home runs in the eighth inning Thursday and the Atlanta Braves blanked Cincinnati 5-0 to advance in the Major League Baseball playoffs. The Braves defeated the Reds two games to none in a best-of-three opening round playoff series to book a second-round matchup against either the Chicago Cubs or Miami Marlins. It was the first post-season series the Braves have won since defeating Houston in the first round of the 2001 playoffs. Since then, Atlanta had dropped nine playoff series plus a wildcard game in 2012. In American League action, the Oakland Athletics also ended a playoff drought, rallying for a 6-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox for a 2-1 win in their best-of-three first-round series. It marked the A's first playoff series win since 2006, and snapped their nine-game losing streak in winner-take-all playoff games. "Not everybody has been part of all that. But we've had a couple of tough ones the last two years," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said, referring to defeats in the AL wild card game in 2018 and 2019. "The goal this year was to win the division and try to get to a series. We got to a series, lost the first game and really responded well. It was rewarding." After Chad Pinder's tie-breaking two-run single with two outs in the fifth inning, the Oakland bullpen shut the door on the White Sox and the A's advanced to a Division Series clash with the Houston Astros. It could be a tense match-up. Mike Fiers, Oakland's game-three starting pitcher, was the whistleblower who exposed the sign-stealing scheme that has tainted their 2017 World Series title. The Braves, meanwhile, will have to wait to learn their second-round opponents after game two of the series between the Miami Marlins and Chicago Cubs was postponed by rain. The Braves, who have not won the World Series since 1995, opened the scoring on Ronald Acuna's run-scoring double in the fifth inning before Ozuna and Duvall added insurance runs in Atlanta's final time at the plate. Acuna, 22, has nine extra-base hits through his first 44 career postseason at-bats. Atlanta right-handed pitcher Ian Anderson struck out nine and surrendered only two hits over six scoreless innings for the victory. Anderson, 22, became just the fourth pitcher in Braves history to throw six or more scoreless innings in his first career postseason appearance. "He looks like a veteran pitcher out there," Acuna said of Anderson. "He never seems too anxious. He always seems to keep his emotions in check. He's a tremendous pitcher." Not since 1995 have the Reds tasted victory in a post-season matchup. They went a record 22 consecutive innings without scoring a run in the playoff run after dropping the opener 1-0 to Atlanta in 13 innings on Wednesday. bb/ch
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