Reds 4, Braves 0: the clincher hangover at Truist, an Acuña shin scare, and Sale tonight

Nothing says "coronation hangover" like a fresh NL East banner and a 4-0 shutout to a 73-win club that's been playing out the string since August. That was the Braves on Tuesday night at Truist, the first game of the final home stand after Sunday's clincher in Houston. The good news: Ronald Acuña Jr.'s shin scare looks minor. The better news: Chris Sale starts tonight.

JR Ritchie was the bright spot

The box score says JR Ritchie took the loss, and he did — 5.0 innings, four hits, one earned run, eight strikeouts, three walks to fall to 1-4. But the one earned run wasn't really on him. Elly De La Cruz took him deep for a solo shot in the third, and that was the only damage until Ritchie handed it off. Eight punchouts on the day he'd otherwise spent trying to pitch his way back into the October conversation is a real line. He's going to be a bullpen or a rotation piece in October, and he pitched like the latter Tuesday.

The bullpen coughed it open

The shutout went sideways after Ritchie exited. Dane Myers, who is a 27-year-old with no business doing this to a division champ, hammered a two-run homer in the sixth, De La Cruz added an RBI single in the seventh, and Eugenio Suárez — in his own little milestone night — drilled his 25th of the year in the eighth, the 350th home run of his career. That's a 4-0 game that Atlanta never had a real answer to. Seven hits, no runs, a pair of double plays, and the only thing that sniffed a rally fizzled in the seventh.

Acuña's shin, and two bullpen moves that matter

The scare of the night came when Acuña exited with a left shin contusion after getting hit. X-rays came back negative and he's day-to-day going into Wednesday. Far less alarming but worth tracking: Robert Suárez (elbow) is set to be activated today to ramp up for the playoff run, and Tony Santillan went on the 15-day IL to close out his season. That's October roster-shaping starting to happen around the edges while the division is already in the bag.

Tonight, Sale lines up October

All of which brings us to Wednesday: Chris Sale, 14-9 with a 2.18 ERA and 190 strikeouts in 157 innings, takes the ball against the Reds' Andrew Abbott at 7:15. This is the start the club has been building toward — the one they bumped Sale's schedule for so he can open the Wild Card Series on full rest. A one-game clunker against Cincinnati means nothing in the standings (Atlanta is still 92-65, NL East champs, No. 3 seed). What it means is Sale proving he's October-sharp, one tune-up before the games that actually count.

Bird Gang bottom line

Call Tuesday's 4-0 a hangover and move on — division champs get to have one meaningless clunker, and the Reds used De La Cruz and three homers to take it. The real story is the health bar going into the final weekend: Acuña's shin is fine, Suárez comes back today, and Sale throws the dress rehearsal tonight. That's the October punch list. The Wild Card Series is 10 days away, and Atlanta's already pointed at it.

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