Braves beat Reds 5-0 to win Wild Card Series

The long wait is finally over. For the first time since 2001, the Atlanta Braves have won a postseason series.

Atlanta beat Cincinnati 5-0 Thursday to win the Wild Card Series 2-0. The Braves will now await the winner for the Cubs/Marlins series for the NL Division Series, which will start next Tuesday in Houston.

The Braves had lost their last seven games in which they could have clinched a postseason series. The franchise had also lost 10 consecutive playoff series.

The Braves got another great starting pitching performance from one of their young starters, as Ian Anderson was tremendous in his first postseason start. He pitched six scoreless innings and allowed just two hits, walked two and struck out nine batters.

Will Smith looked unbelievably good in a scoreless 7th inning as he had two strikeouts. Smith's slider has looked the best it's been all season in his two performances in this series.

Then Chris Martin came in to pitch the 8th inning and was perfect. Mark Melancon finished the shutout with a perfect 9th inning.

Atlanta's starting pitchers combined for 13 shutout innings, while the bullpen had nine shutout innings in the two games.

Offensively, the Braves got their first run in the 5th inning when Ronald Acuna, Jr. doubled home Austin Riley.

Then in the 8th inning, Marcell Ozuna, who had been horrible for for his first eight at bats of the series, hit a long two-run home run to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead. Adam Duvall followed later in the inning with a two-run home run of his own to pad the lead to 5-0.

For more coverage of the Braves postseason series win over the Reds, listen this afternoon to The Bill Shanks Show on SportsRadio 93-1 WXKO TheSuperStations.com.