Braves Lose, Hand NL East Title to Phillies

The Braves clinched the NL east title tonight... not for themselves... but for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Braves, who had won 7 in a row and 15 of 17 games, lost to the Marlins for the second straight night in Atlanta. 

Javier Vazquez gave up three third inning runs tonight on a couple of RBI singles and a wild pitch.

Ross Gload added insult to injury with a two-run homer in the 5th inning.

Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco struck out nine straight Braves batters between the 3rd and 5th innings of that game.

That was one short of the Major League record Tom Seaver set back in 1970.

Nolasco fanned 16 batters in his 7-and-two-third innings of work... he gave up only 4 hits and 2 runs on an Adam Laroche single in the 7th inning.

The Braves scored two more runs in the 9th to make it a 5-4 final... that mathematically eliminates the Braves in the race for the NL east title.

They're still alive in the wildcard race, but Wednesday night's loss lowers the Colorado Rockies magic number for clinching that playoff spot to two.  It'll go down to one if the Rockies beat the Brewers tonight in Denver.