Braves finish regular season with 52-29 record at Truist Park

The next time the Braves play at Truist Park, it’ll be the postseason.

They closed their regular-season home slate with a 7-6 loss to the Reds on Thursday. The Braves (93-66) finished with a 52-29 record at home, one of their best marks since Truist Park opened in 2017.

Fifty-two home wins are their most since 2022 (55). They’re tied for the second most in Truist Park history. This is the fourth time the Braves have claimed at least 50 victories in a season at their Cobb-based palace.

“It’s a good place to play,” manager Walt Weiss said. “The stadium is usually full or close to it. It’s a good atmosphere. We love playing here and they play well here. Hopefully that’s a sign of things to come in the first round.”

Tyler Mahle, the Braves’ presumed Game 2 starter next week, had his final regular-season outing. It wasn’t the tuneup he’d like: Mahle was charged five earned runs on six hits over five frames in what was his worst start with the Braves. He surrendered two homers, including a lead-off shot to Carlos Jorge.

Mahle has been tremendous since joining the Braves at the trade deadline — 1.28 ERA in eight starts entering Thursday — so one poor outing isn’t reason to sound the alarms. The timing of it, though, will understandably cause some concern. But consider it just a bad day for a player who hadn’t had any in Atlanta.

“The stuff wasn’t good today,” he said. “I wasn’t locating my fastball. I wasn’t locating my split.”

Mahle fell one inning short of 125 this season, which would’ve triggered a $1 million bonus in his contract. He acknowledged he was aware of it in recent outings, but it wasn’t on his mind during the start. Weiss said it would’ve been “irresponsible” to let Mahle go another inning given the stakes of the coming weeks. Teams will often honor a bonus when a player is close enough, and that might end up the case here.

Outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. returned to the lineup after leaving Tuesday’s game because of fouling a ball off his shin. He doubled off the right-field wall in his first at-bat (2-for-4 with a stolen base). He looked fully operational running the bases.

“He was running really well, it looked like there were no ill effects from that foul ball off his leg,” Weiss said. “That’s a really good sign.”

Acuña’s recent surge gives hope that he’ll be a major part of a deep postseason run. Acuña hasn’t experienced a postseason advancement since 2020.

Third baseman Austin Riley had two hits, including his 19th homer. It’s been a disappointing season for Riley, but he could change the story with a productive October. If Riley can hit one more home run this weekend, he’d have his first 20-homer campaign since 2023; a surprising stat that’s a result of myriad injuries in recent years.

The Braves are locked into the No. 3 seed. They’ll host the No. 6 seed in a best-of-three wild-card series here next week.