With one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Acuna singled home the tying run, stole second and scored on Ozzie Albies' single to give the Braves a 6-5 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
Acuna became the first player in major league history to have 70 stolen bases and 40 home runs in the same season. He finished the night 2-for-5 with his 69th and 70th steals. Acuna has 41 homers on the year.
The Braves need one win to guarantee home-field advantage through the World Series. The Cubs fell two games behind Arizona for the second NL wild-card spot, as the Diamondbacks beat the Chicago White Sox 3-0 on Wednesday.
Astros 8, Mariners 3
Yordan Alvarez, Mauricio Dubon and Martin Maldonado homered as Houston improved its chances of making the postseason for the seventh consecutive year by winning at Seattle.
The Astros took two of three games in the series to move 1 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners in the race for the American League's third and final wild-card playoff berth. Houston relievers combined for five scoreless innings, with Kendall Graveman (5-6) getting the win.
J.P. Crawford homered for the Mariners. Bryce Miller (8-7) allowed four runs on six hits in four innings.
Yankees 6, Blue Jays 0
Aaron Judge hit a pair of two-run home runs, right-hander Gerrit Cole pitched nine innings and visiting New York defeated Toronto.
Cole (15-4) allowed two hits - both to Brandon Belt - and no walks. He struck out five in his final start of the season. Cole stamped himself as the leading contender to win the American League Cy Young Award. It was Cole's second shutout and second complete game of the season. The Yankees have won the first two games of the three-game series after dropping two of three to Toronto last week in New York. Cole was the winning pitcher in the Yankees victory in that series.
The Blue Jays, who haven't scored a run in the series, lead the Houston Astros by just a half-game in the race for the second American League wild card. Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios (11-12) allowed four runs and five hits while striking out 10 in six innings.
Diamondbacks 3, White Sox 0
Corbin Carroll hit a two-run double to support 5 2/3 shutout innings from Brandon Pfaadt as Arizona bolstered its wild-card chances with a shutout win against host Chicago.
Arizona is now two games ahead of the Cubs and Marlins for the second NL wild-card spot after Chicago lost to the Atlanta Braves and Miami split its doubleheader with the New York Mets Wednesday.
Despite outhitting Arizona 8-4, Chicago lost for the fifth time in seven games to fall to 60-98. The White Sox must win three of their four remaining games to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 2018 -- currently the club's only such campaign since 1971.
Orioles 5, Nationals 1
Adley Rutschman homered and drove in three runs as host Baltimore beat Washington to reduce its magic number to one for clinching the American League East.
The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox so Baltimore is a win or a Tampa Bay loss from locking up the East and top seed in the AL playoffs. Grayson Rodriguez (7-4) pitched 5 2/3 innings for the win. He gave up one run on six hits and struck out five without a walk.
Keibert Ruiz had two hits for Washington, which has lost 11 of 15. Nationals starter Patrick Corbin (10-15) allowed four runs on six hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings and finished 2023 with a 5.20 ERA.
Brewers 3, Cardinals 2
Tyrone Taylor doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as Milwaukee rallied to beat visiting St. Louis and end a three-game losing streak.
Brian Anderson doubled to open the seventh off Jacob Barnes (0-1). Matthew Liberatore relieved and Anderson stole third. After William Contreras was intentionally walked with two outs, Taylor lined a run-scoring double to center to make it 3-2.
Joel Payamps (7-5) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Devin Williams survived a pair of two-out walks during a scoreless ninth for his 36th save in 40 opportunities.
