Olson's walk-off finishes a Rockies sweep: Braves win a seventh straight

Matt Olson singled down the right-field line in the 10th, Brewer Hicklen scored, and the Braves beat the Rockies 3-2. That is seven in a row, a three-game sweep, and a 6-0 homestand that started by taking three from the Dodgers.

Atlanta is 82-55 and first in the NL East. Monday is the June 18 rainout against the Giants at 6:05 p.m. ET. Bryce Elder is lined up. The streak does not need the makeup to count. It would be rude not to try for eight.

Mahle, then extras

Tyler Mahle went 6 2/3 innings, one run, five hits, zero walks, nine strikeouts. Jake McCarthy's sixth-inning homer was the only damage. Mark Bowman had Mahle at a 1.48 ERA in five starts since the Giants trade. The rotation's ERA since Aug. 4 — the day after the deadline — is 2.87.

Sean Murphy led off the third with a solo shot (103.3 mph exit, per Statcast). Austin Riley doubled off the top of the wall. A wild pitch and Ronald Acuña Jr.'s RBI single made it 2-0. Dylan Lee gave the lead back in the eighth on Connor Norby's RBI single. Raisel Iglesias kept the ninth clean. Victor Mederos (4-1) threw a perfect 10th and left the ghost runner there.

Acuña singled to open the 10th and moved Hicklen to third. Tommy Watkins held him. Olson did not need the extra 90 feet. Seventh career walk-off hit. Dugout emptied.

Walt Weiss: "I'm proud of our guys for coming out here and taking care of business. All of it wasn't pretty, but the bottom line is we swept the series, which is hard to do."

Murphy and Acuña actually look like themselves

Murphy went 6-for-13 with two doubles and two homers over the last four games. He entered the homestand hitting .143. Six of eight balls he put in play this week left the bat at 100 mph or harder. None of the 26 before Tuesday did.

Acuña went 6-for-9 with a double in the Rockies series after the Thursday reset against Los Angeles. Weiss pointed at the obvious: clubs have been throwing lefties at this lineup. If Acuña, Murphy, and Riley are all live, the platoon cheat sheet gets shorter.

Mahle, after the game: "This is probably the best team I've ever been a part of." Five starts in. He is not wrong about the fit.

Two sweeps, one homestand, one game left

Saturday was Harris' two-run double in a 2-1 grind. Sunday was Murphy's homer, Mahle through 6 2/3, Olson walking it off. The week before that was Sale's shutout to finish a Dodgers sweep. Weiss again: "We're worlds apart from where we were a week ago." On Aug. 23 they had lost seven of nine.

The elbows are still gone. Schwellenbach and Waldrep are season-ending surgery. The rotation that is actually here — Sale, Mahle, Pérez, Holmes, Elder — just ran a week that made the deadline look less like a shrug.

Bird Gang bottom line

Seven straight. Two sweeps. Olson with the walk-off, Mahle with the nine punchouts, Murphy finally squaring the ball up. Elder and the Giants makeup is the encore, not the test. The test already happened, and Atlanta passed it 6-0.

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