The difference of three or four hits in fortune between the Braves and Reds could have proved meaningful in a scoreless or 1-0 game. But the delicate ripples of luck didn’t affect the final outcome as Raisel Iglesias‘s two walks and two home runs allowed — a 107 mph Marcell Ozuna sizzler followed by an even hotter Adam Duvall line drive shot a few batters later — gave the Braves four insurance runs and Mark Melancon a ninth inning that was more of a casual tuneup than a high-pressure showdown.

Ian Anderson‘s great rookie story continued into his first postseason start. While San Diego’s addition of Mike Clevinger was the splashiest move at the deadline, Anderson was as valuable a de facto acquisition as any player in baseball and for the Braves, it was a life preserver. Mike Soroka‘s ruptured tendon and the general lousiness of much of the rest of the rotation left Atlanta’s starting depth paper-thin, which isn’t what you want in a postseason with no mid-series off days. Outside of Max Fried and Anderson, Atlanta’s starting pitchers combined to go 4-14 with a 7.33 ERA over 163 1/3 innings, for -0.6 WAR. To finish 35-25 with that pitching depth was nothing short of a miracle.

Anderson struck out nine batters over six innings of work, getting the win, with the only flaws being a couple of walks and a pair of singles to Eugenio Suarez and Freddy Galvis. His Game Score of 75 is the 17th-best postseason debut for a pitcher 23 or younger, just behind Soroka’s 76 is NLDS Game 3 last year. (Sadly, former Brave Bill James only ranks third in this list of Bill James Game Scores.)

Whether the Braves end up facing the Cubs or the Marlins, the rotation will provide a greater challenge, with Atlanta in a worse position to find starting pitching for five consecutive games on five consecutive days than most of the other teams in the playoffs. But to unpack that, you’ll have to wait for our NLDS previews. For now, the Braves advance, while the Reds’ offseason begins.