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Series Won, Harrison Elevated

Atlanta took the series in Houston with a game to spare, Philadelphia lost at the Mets, and the gap is six by MLB's count with seven to play. The Falcons' one Saturday document is a practice-squad elevation, and Atlanta United were under way at Portland when this edition went out.

Ray PiedmontSep 20, 2026 · 3 min read

Saturday's ledger: a series won in Houston with a game to spare, a practice-squad elevation posted in Flowery Branch, and a match in Portland that was under way when this edition went out.

Atlanta 6, Houston 3 at Daikin Park, Atlanta the visitors, game two of three, and the series is Atlanta's at 2-0. Houston led 2-0 through five on Isaac Paredes's solo home run in the first and his run-scoring single in the third. Matt Olson's single in the sixth made it 2-1. Ronald Acuña Jr.'s two-out grand slam in the seventh, off Bryan Abreu on a 1-0 fastball, made it 5-2; it was his 20th home run and his second slam of the season. Mike Yastrzemski's solo home run in the eighth, his 11th, made it 6-2. Grant Holmes: six innings, eight hits, two runs, no walks, four strikeouts, the win, 10-5. Raisel Iglesias: a 1-2-3 ninth, his 34th save. Eleven hits and no errors for Atlanta, 10 hits and none for Houston. Ellis has the seventh inning and the manner of the comeback; Dex has the third-game question, Pérez or Holmes.

Philadelphia lost 10-3 at Citi Field in the afternoon game. Atlanta are 91-64, Philadelphia 85-70, six back by MLB's count, seven to play for both. Philadelphia's elimination number for the division read 1 on MLB's feed after Saturday's games; the figure sits on Philadelphia's row, not Atlanta's. Milwaukee, first in the league ranking, won 1-0 at Baltimore and are 97-58; Los Angeles were still playing San Francisco when this edition went out. Sunday's finale: 2:10 PM ET at Daikin Park, Martín Pérez listed against Hunter Brown.

Carolina, 0-1, at Atlanta, 0-1, Sunday, 1:00 PM ET, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, FOX, Cooper Rush named. The one Falcons item dated Saturday: the club elevated defensive lineman Zach Harrison from the practice squad for the home opener, posted Saturday afternoon under Will McFadden's byline, and ESPN's transactions log carries the same row dated Saturday. Harrison, a 2023 third-round pick, made the initial 53, was waived when the club claimed three players, and was signed back to the practice squad; Sunday is his season debut, by the club's account. The rule, from the same post: two elevations per club per game day, and three per season for any one player before he must be signed to the 53.

At Portland, Providence Park, kickoff 10:30 PM ET, away, under way when this edition went out. The result is Sunday morning's, and Tito's.

The next dated Hawks document is the league's: the NBA's key-dates page lists September 28 as the first allowable date for veterans to report and September 29 as the day training camps open.

One more thing. Acuña's walk in the sixth ran through the challenge system. ESPN's tracker states the rule: "Each team receives two challenges to start the game, and only batters, pitchers and catchers can challenge a call." At 2-1 against Hayden Wesneski, Acuña challenged a called strike on himself, the system overturned it to a ball, and the next pitch was ball four, per MLB's feed. He was thrown out at third on Olson's single that same inning; his next plate appearance was the seventh.

The Tilt

The series is won; the division waits on a number only Philadelphia's row carries.

Ray Piedmont

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Ray Piedmont

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