Ritchie rocked by Cubs as playoff celebration put on hold

CHICAGO — With a chance Wednesday to clinch a spot in the National League playoffs, the Braves sent rookie right-hander JR Ritchie to the mound at Wrigley Field — and it did not go well.

Ritchie gave up six runs on seven hits, including two solo homers, and didn’t make it past the fifth inning in an 8-4 Braves loss. The defeat shrank the NL East division lead to 4 1/2 games because the Phillies beat the Nationals. The magic number to win the division remains at five.

The Braves also had a chance Wednesday to clinch a postseason berth with a win and a Diamondbacks or a Padres loss, but hopes of that scenario coming together went out the window pretty quickly.

Ritchie, making his ninth start for the Braves this season, walked two batters in the first inning Wednesday. The first was wiped out by a double play, but the second came around to score on Alex Bregman’s two-out double to the gap in right field.

The Cubs (85-68) went up 2-0 in the third inning on a solo homer from Pete Crow-Armstrong, his 43rd of the season — a Cubs record for left-handed hitters. Bregman, who went 3-for-4 with four runs driven in, made it 3-0 in the fourth with a leadoff homer to left.

Crow-Armstrong’s RBI triple into the corner in right field made it a 4-0 game in the fifth. Then Ritchie pegged Seiya Suzuki with a fastball in the left arm. Then, with two outs, Bregman ripped a ball down the left field line that got away from Mauricio Dubón for a two-run triple.

That was the end for Ritchie (1-3), who left after 4 2/3 innings and 82 pitches. Of the 14 balls put in play against the 23-year-old, eight came off the bat at more than 96 mph.

The Braves (89-64) avoided being shut out in the top of the sixth thanks to a leadoff double from Ronald Acuña Jr. Acuña went to third on a groundout to second and scored on Matt Olson’s check-swing chopper to the right of the mound.