The Atlanta Braves just keep on perfecting their postseason formula for success.
Work in and out of trouble on the mound, stranding runners and squelching opponents’ chances. Use their bullpen early and often, leaning on a group that has affectionately nicknamed themselves the “Nightshift.”
Then — especially in games at Truist Park — wait for some late-inning magic at the plate.
It worked in the division series against the Milwaukee Brewers, winning the clinching game on Freddie Freeman’s eighth-inning home run.
It worked against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when they took control of the series with back-to-back walk-offs in the first two games, building an edge the defending champions couldn’t overcome.
And on Saturday night, in front of the largest playoff crowd in their ballpark’s history, it worked against the Houston Astros in Game 4 of the World Series, too.
After trailing for the first six innings, the Braves surged in the bottom of the seventh on back-to-back home runs by Dansby Swanson and Jorge Soler, holding on for a 3-2 win to move to within one victory of their first championship since 1995.
The Braves had never hit back-to-back home runs in their World Series history before Saturday, when Swanson tied the game at 2-2 with an opposite-field blast and a pinch-hitting Soler sent a 107-mph laser just over the short fence in left.
But then again, the Braves have never had a team quite like this one either, which won only 88 games in the regular season, lost its best hitter in Ronald Acuna Jr. and one of its best pitchers in Mike Soroka to injuries, and was under .500 for the first four months.
Down the stretch of the regular season, however, they caught fire. And so far this October, they haven’t cooled off yet, taking a three games-to-one lead in the Fall Classic with another home game coming Sunday.
The Astros had chances to put the game away early.
Braves rookie opener Dylan Lee loaded the bases in the first. But reliever Kyle Wright was summoned and allowed only one run. The Astros had the bases loaded again in the third, but elected to let pitcher Zack Greinke hit with two outs. He rolled into a grounder that retired the side.
In this series, the Astros are batting just 4 for 31 with runners in scoring position. Overall this postseason, Atlanta pitchers are holding opponents to a .172 batting average in such situations — one of the keys to their NLCS triumph over the Dodgers.
Greinke was sharp for the Astros in a scoreless four-inning outing — his first scoreless postseason start since a 2014 NLDS game with the Dodgers — and exited with a 2-0 lead after Jose Altuve hit a solo homer in the top of the fourth.
But the Astros bullpen couldn’t finish it off.
The Braves cut the deficit in half in the sixth on an RBI single from Austin Riley. An inning later, Swanson and Soler put a charge through the 43,125-person crowd. And the back end of the bullpen took it from there, the team following its October script to perfection to reach the verge of a title.
