The Atlanta Braves' offense has few positive takeaways right now. One of them managed to be that Jurickson Profar is bringing some pop to the lineup. In the 5-4 walk-off loss to The Athletics, Profar hit a two-run home run with two outs in the top of the fourth inning to tie things up 3-3.

PITCHING PROBABLES: Braves: Spencer Strider (3-7, 3.93 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 63 strikeouts); Athletics: JP Sears (7-7, 4.76 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 73 strikeouts) BOTTOM LINE: The Athletics and Atlanta Braves meet on Thursday with the three-game series tied 1-1.

Along Battery Avenue, the still-carpet-smooth new street that runs along the outside of Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, the All-Star banners are flying. Images of Aaron Judge, Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes and other stars decorate the walls and light posts around the ballpark in advance of next week’s All-Star Game.

It's the same problem, different game for the Atlanta Braves, as another winnable series flips out from under them

Each team has beaten up on the other in the first two games of the series, with the A’s taking Game One in a 10-1 final while Atlanta won yesterday with a 9-2 win. Now tonight’s game will determine who takes the series, and hopefully the A’s can win it in front of the home crowd.

The Atlanta Braves are taking on Athletics in hopes of winning the series as well as winning their first series in the state of California this season. Spencer Strider will take the mound and has looked much more like himself in his past five starts.

Tyler Soderstrom opened Thursday night’s game with a long home run and closed it with a one-out RBI single to give the Athletics a 5-4 11-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves.

Acuña helped lead the Braves to a 9-2 win against the Athletics — just their third victory in 13 games — a day after an embarrassing 10-1 series-opening loss. The Braves hit a season-high five homers, with others from Drake Baldwin, Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna, who hit his first in 22 games, since June 13.