Reds Edge Braves 7-6 as Mahle Falters in Home Finale
The Cincinnati Reds closed out their series at Truist Park with a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night, spoiling Atlanta's final regular-season home game. The storyline was simple: the pitching matchup that looked lopsided on paper flipped completely.
Tyler Mahle, carrying a 1.28 ERA into the start, lasted 5.0 innings and allowed five earned runs on six hits, including two home runs, with four strikeouts and two walks. Brady Singer was worse — 3.0 innings, five earned runs, seven hits, one homer — but Cincinnati's bats did enough against Atlanta's bullpen to hold on.
How our plays graded:
- Moneyline — Braves: LOSS. The favorite never controlled this one.
- Run line — Reds +1.5: WIN. Cincinnati won outright, so the cushion was never needed.
- Total — Under: LOSS. Thirteen combined runs blew past the number.
- Brady Singer over 2.50 earned runs (-124): WIN. He allowed five.
- Brady Singer over 5.50 hits allowed (+110): WIN. Seven hits, a comfortable cover.
- Austin Riley under 0.50 hits (+125): LOSS. Riley homered in two at-bats, the exact outcome the platoon lean was betting against.
- Elly De La Cruz over 1.5 total bases (+139): WIN. He homered and finished with four total bases.
The takeaway: fading a red-hot starter because his team had nothing to play for was the right structural read on the run line and Singer props, but the under got crushed by two shaky starters on a night when neither lineup was held down. Late-season games with eliminated teams and locked-up favorites remain volatile on totals — lean toward individual bats over game totals when motivation is uneven.