SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Interstat) — Brandon Williamson pitched six scoreless innings, Elly De La Cruz homered and drove in two runs, and the Cincinnati Reds defeated the Atlanta Braves 4-0 on Tuesday night at Truist Park. Williamson, who improved to 5-4, allowed three hits and struck out two. He outpitched JR Ritchie, who dropped to 1-4 despite striking out eight over five innings. Ritchie gave up four hits, one earned run and three walks. Cincinnati finished with 10 hits, while Atlanta had seven. The Braves grounded into two double plays. The game took 2 hours, 32 minutes and drew 38,214.

De La Cruz opened the scoring with a line-drive homer to right field, his 29th of the season. He added a run-scoring single in the seventh and finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Dane Myers homered to center field in the sixth, his eighth, and Eugenio Suárez added a solo shot to center in the eighth, his 25th. Tyler Stephenson doubled for Cincinnati, and JJ Bleday collected two singles. The Reds scored in four separate innings, never needing a big rally because their pitching staff kept Atlanta off the board. Matt McLain and Carlos Jorge singled ahead of De La Cruz’s run-scoring hit in the seventh, and Sal Stewart singled in the fifth and walked in the third. Stephenson’s double in the seventh moved De La Cruz to third, but Cincinnati could not add more in that inning.

Cincinnati threatened in the first when De La Cruz walked and stole second, but Ritchie struck out three batters in the inning to keep the game scoreless. The Braves got a leadoff single from Drake Baldwin in the bottom half, only for Matt Olson to hit into a double play. Bleday singled in the second, but Ritchie again escaped. Williamson settled in after that, retiring the side in order in the third and working around a fifth-inning single by Michael Harris II when Mauricio Dubón grounded into a double play. He also got out of the sixth cleanly, striking out Brewer Hicklen to end the inning.

The Braves’ most anxious moment came in the third inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. fouled a pitch off his left leg and fell to the ground. He gingerly made his way back to the dugout, and about 30 minutes later Atlanta announced that X-rays were negative. Acuña was listed as day to day with a left shin contusion. Acuña had flown out to right field in the first inning before the injury scare. The scare came with Atlanta already locked into the postseason and focused on health as much as results.

Atlanta had chances but could not convert. Baldwin reached base three times with two singles and a walk. Olson singled, Harris singled and doubled, Austin Riley singled, and Dubón singled. Olson grounded into a double play in the first inning, and Dubón grounded into one in the fifth. The Braves also left runners on base in the seventh and eighth, when Baldwin and Riley each moved into scoring position but were stranded. Cincinnati pitchers combined for 20 strikes, 59 balls and 20 balls in play. Atlanta pitchers combined for 16 strikes, 41 balls and 16 balls in play.

Atlanta’s best late chance came in the eighth. Riley singled, Sean Murphy struck out, Ha-Seong Kim popped out, Mike Yastrzemski walked and Baldwin reached on a soft single that deflected off pitcher Tejay Antone, loading the bases. Olson then flew out to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes in foul territory to end the threat. In the ninth, Harris doubled with one out, but Emilio Pagán retired Dubón on a groundout and Riley on a flyout. Cincinnati’s bullpen finished what Williamson started. Pagán worked a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit and striking out one. Brock Burke tossed a scoreless inning with one hit, one walk and one strikeout. Antone allowed two hits and a walk but struck out one in a scoreless inning. For Atlanta, Didier Fuentes struck out one in a scoreless inning. Owen Murphy allowed three earned runs on six hits over three innings of relief. Ritchie was sharp early, striking out the side in the first and finishing with eight strikeouts, but the Reds’ home runs made the difference.

The result moved Cincinnati to 73-84. Atlanta fell to 92-65. The Braves clinched the National League East on Sunday and will almost certainly be the NL’s seed when the postseason begins next week. They entered Tuesday four games behind the Dodgers in the race for the NL’s seed and the accompanying bye into the NL Division Series. With the seeding essentially set, manager Walt Weiss has emphasized focus and health as Atlanta plays out the final five games of the regular season before Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday.

The teams meet again Wednesday and Thursday at Truist Park. Cincinnati and Atlanta will complete their series Thursday before moving on to the final weekend of the regular season. Cincinnati then travels to Toronto for a three-game series, while Atlanta goes to Miami for three games. Earlier this season, Atlanta won two of three against Cincinnati in May. The Reds had lost two of three to the Chicago Cubs before Tuesday, and the Braves had swept a three-game series at Houston. Williamson had allowed one earned run in each of his previous two starts, lasting two innings against the Dodgers and four at Milwaukee, but he gave Cincinnati the kind of length and efficiency it needed.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Atlanta Braves 7, Cincinnati Reds 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Atlanta with a 64.7 percent probability to win. Atlanta had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 4 went over the over/under line of 8.5.