Braves vs. Astros series recap: Sandy León hit a home run

With three different Postseason contenders coming into town over the past week or so, it was evident that the Atlanta Braves were going to be in for a pretty tough and challenging homestand. The three teams performed just as advertised — including the Houston Astros, who are currently fighting with everything they’ve got to hold on to their spot at the top of the AL West with the Seattle Mariners nipping at their heels. Still, the Astros had been in shaky form heading into this series and there was a hope that the Braves could maybe help contribute to the wobbly form that Houston had been in.

Well, the events that took place during this series put that thought to bed very quickly. When this Atlanta pitching staff isn’t at their best, they can serve as a tonic to cure any lineup’s ills and that turned out to be the case for this weekend as this was just a pretty rough weekend in all facets for Atlanta. That’s nothing new though with the way this season has gone and not much is changing as we get closer and closer to the season ending. Let’s get into it.

The Astros got on the board with this one thanks to MLB debutant Zach Cole hitting his first career home run on the first pitch that he saw as a major leaguer. It wasn’t even a bad pitch from Hurston Waldrep — Cole just put a great swing on it and got his career off to a lovely start. His two-run shot touched off the first of three-straight innings where Houston scored at least two runs — two in the third, two more in the fourth and then six in the fifth in order to break the game open and turn this one into a laugher midway through. Jose Altuve’s home run in the sixth inning made it 11-0 and this was basically over at that point. Hurston Waldrep ended up being responsible for eight of those runs and Dane Dunning got charged with the other three. Oof.

Ronald Acuña Jr. got the Braves on the board with a solo homer in the sixth and then Eli White hit the first pinch-hit home run for Atlanta since Kevin Pillar pulled it off back in May 2023 in order to make it 11-3, Houston. That was all the Braves could muster up on offense against Houston’s bullpen, as their lineup absolutely demolished Atlanta’s pitching staff in order to provide an environment that was conducive for the success of this bullpen game for the Astros. Blah.

This one was less of a laugher but another case of Atlanta having to dig themselves out of a pretty large hole early on. Houston scored three runs in both the second and third inning, with Christian Walker’s two-run homer putting the icing on top of the cake. Bryce Elder was unable to get through five innings and ended up giving up six runs in this one — that’s now the seventh time in 26 starts where Elder has given up at least five runs. It’s not what you want from the guy who has led the Braves in innings pitched by far but also if that was a scenario that ever came to pass during this season then that was always going to be a sign that the wheels had flown off of this proverbial vehicle.

Matt Olson put the Braves on the board with a home run in the fourth inning and then Ha-Seong Kim delivered an RBI single in the seventh but that’s as far as the Braves got in this one. Hunter Brown performed as advertised for the Astros in this one and even old friend Enyel De Los Santos showed up and pitched a scoreless inning for Houston in this one. The score says that this game was closer than the loss on Friday was but it still felt like there was just as big of a gulf between these two teams as there was on the other night as the Astros sauntered into a series win.

Atlanta ended a rough homestand on a high note with a somewhat convincing win to avoid a sweep at the hands of Houston. Joey Wentz only went four innings in this one but only gave up two runs while striking out five. This wasn’t a spectacular performance by any measure but it ended up being crucial because Wentz was able to hold the Astros at bay long enough for the Braves to eventually take control of this one.

The Braves coaxed three straight walks out of Framber Valdez to start their half of the fifth inning smacked a liner out into right-center for a two-run RBI single that put the Braves up 4-2. Ha-Seong Kim delivered a follow-up RBI single to make it a three-run inning for Atlanta and a three-run lead as well.

Cam Smith clawed one back for the Astros in the next inning with a homer off of Hunter Stratton (who ended up getting two innings under his belt in this one) but Ozzie Albies got that run back with an RBI double once it was Atlanta’s turn to hit again. Then, the unthinkable happened in the seventh inning: Sandy León hit a home run. León’s first dinger since 2021 put the game out of reach — and the postgame notes from the Braves pointed out that Sandy León now has a AB/HR ratio of 5.00, which is the best among every single player to take an at-bat in Major League Baseball this season. Ha!

Anyways, Dylan Lee, Pierce Johnson and Raisel Iglesias each went out and pitched scoreless innings in order to carry the Braves home to victory in this one.

In a way, this was a typical 2025 Atlanta Braves series: One step forward, two steps back. If you’re still keeping score at home, the Braves can now only afford to lose one more game at home before complimenting their first overall losing season since 2017 with their first losing season at home since 2017 as well. Once Atlanta returns home from a trip to D.C. and then Detroit, they’ll have the Nationals and the Pirates rolling into town to finish off the regular season. There’s no telling how those series will go since those two teams have become contemporaries for the Braves rather than “lower” competition but I do think that it’s probably a given that they’ll lose at least two games between those two series. It’s just how this season has gone, folks.

As it turns out, the Braves did in fact throw a tiny wrench into Houston’s Postseason chase. The Astros really would’ve preferred to get out of town with a sweep since the Mariners are red hot (don’t we know it) and have now officially taken hold of first place in the AL West. So despite having a very tough homestand, the Braves did eventually accomplish their goal of tripping up another team — though that was less of what they did and more of the other team in the AL West race simply heating up beyond all belief.

As far as the Lottery goes, things remain the same as the Braves have maintained their hold on a Top 5 position in the Lottery odds. The Orioles have suddenly gone cold after getting swept by the AL East-leading Blue Jays over the weekend, so the Braves have some competition coming in hot for their spot in fourth. We’ll be keeping track of the Lottery Race from here on out with our Lottery Look-In mini-series. If you remember the Wild Card Report from last season, it’ll be similar to that. I wish I didn’t have to report on what was happening in the race for the Draft Lottery but you’ve sometimes you’ve just got to play with the cards you’ve been dealt. We’ll see what happens for the rest of the way!

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