Travis d’Arnaud hit a walk-off homer in the ninth inning and the Atlanta Braves kept up their postseason push with a 2-1 win over the playoff-bound Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.

Reynaldo López came off the injured list to throw six strong innings for the Braves, who moved one game ahead of the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks in the race for the final two wild-card spots in the National League.

D’Arnaud, the former Lakewood High standout, ended it by launching a 2-0 pitch from Sam Long (3-3) over the center-field wall for his 15th homer this season.

The Braves can clinch their seventh straight playoff appearance today by completing a sweep of the Royals paired with another loss by the Diamondbacks.

Atlanta also has a makeup doubleheader set for Monday against the Mets after two games were washed out by Hurricane Helene last week, but it may not matter much for the Braves.

“This is big here. This is playoff baseball, literally,” manager Brian Snitker said. “A lot of emotions. That’s why you play this thing, to get in these positions.”

Raisel Iglesias (6-2) earned the win with a perfect top half of the ninth, but the story on the mound was López.

The All-Star right-hander pitched for the first time since Sept. 10, when he lasted only one inning at Washington before coming out with shoulder discomfort.

López looked as good as ever in his return, allowing only two singles while striking out nine.

BREWERS 6, METS 0 >> Joey Ortiz drove in three runs for Milwaukee and visiting New York mustered just two hits as its playoff hopes sustained another blow.

The Mets (87-72) lost their third in a row.

Ortiz put the Brewers ahead 2-0 in the fourth by looping a full-count curveball from Jose Quintana (10-10) into left-center with a bases-loaded single.

Milwaukee broke open the game in the eighth inning by scoring four runs off Reed Garrett, including a two-run single by Andruw Monasterio.

Quintana and four relievers combined to strike out 18. He struck out nine while allowing two runs, five hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings.

Tobias Myers (9-6) struck out five while allowing one hit and no walks in four innings to get the win.

PADRES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 0 >> Kyle Higashioka, Brandon Lockridge and Donovan Solano homered in a five-run ninth inning, lifting San Diego to a road win over sliding Arizona, which continued to lose ground in the NL playoff race.

The Diamondbacks (88-73) have lost five of six.

The game was scoreless heading into the ninth. With one out, David Peralta singled up the middle and then Higashioka cranked a two-run homer deep into the left field stands.

Lockridge followed with his first big league homer.

It was a stunning blowup for Diamondbacks left-hander A.J. Puk (4-9), who has been the team’s most dominant reliever since he was acquired from the Miami Marlins at the trade deadline. He had given up just one run over 27 innings over his 29 outings since coming to Arizona.

Solano added a two-run homer, his fourth hit of the night, later in the ninth off Scott McGough.

NATIONALS 6, PHILLIES 3 >> Washington got a three-run homer from Joey Gallo in a four-run eighth to beat visiting Philadelphia.

James Wood hit a two-run in the sixth off the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler (16-7), who allowed three hits in 6 1/3 innings while tying his season high with 11 strikeouts.

MacKenzie Gore gave up three hits in six innings and struck out nine — including Kyle Schwarber, Turner and Harper in his final inning this season.

PIRATES 9, YANKEES 4 >> Paul Skenes pitched two perfect innings in his Yankee Stadium debut and Pittsburgh hit five homers, including four off New York’s Luis Gil.

The AL East champion Yankees (93-68) have lost four of five, but they later clinched home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs when Cleveland (92-69) lost to Houston. The Yankees won the season series against the Guardians and hold the tiebreaker.

Yasmani Grandal and Nick Gonzales hit solo homers in the first four innings off Gil (15-7). Rookie Billy Cook in the fifth and Jared Triolo in the sixth added two-run drives. Nick Yorke hit a two-run homer in the ninth against Will Warren.

Aaron Judge followed his third game off this season with his third five-strikeout game, his first since May 5, 2021.

Skenes, the former El Toro High standout, threw 23 pitches to six hitters.

A top contender for NL Rookie of the Year, the 22-year-old right-hander finished 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts and 133 innings — 29 innings shy of qualifying for the National League ERA title. He struck out 170 and walked 32.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. broke up Pittsburgh’s no-hit bid in the fifth with his 11th homer since being acquired from the Marlins on July 27.

Mike Burrows, who underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow April 26, 2023, followed Skenes and threw 68 pitches over 3 1/3 innings to win in his major league debut.

ASTROS 4, GUARDIANS 3 >> Justin Verlander gave up three runs in six innings for his 262nd victory and AL West champion Houston edged host Cleveland.

José Ramírez hit his 39th homer, stole his 41st base and drove in three runs for the AL Central champion Guardians, moving within one home run of becoming the seventh player in MLB history with 40 homers and 40 stolen bases in a season.

The 41-year-old Verlander (5-6), who gave up seven hits and struck out five without issuing a walk, won for the second time in three starts and lowered his ERA to 5.48. The right-hander, who was sidelined from June 18 until Aug. 21 with neck discomfort.

Zach Dezenzo had an RBI single in the first and Jon Singleton walked with the bases loaded during Houston’s three-run second.

Ramírez hit a two-run homer in the first and had a sacrifice fly in the third. The six-time All-Star third baseman doubled in the eighth for his 1,500th career hit.

ORIOLES 9, TWINS 2 >> Emmanuel Rivera went 4 for 4 with two homers and four RBIs to lead Baltimore to a road win over Minnesota.

Ryan O’Hearn also homered for the Orioles, who have clinched the top AL wild card.

The Twins have lost six of their last seven and were eliminated from playoff contention on Friday.

WHITE SOX 4, TIGERS 0 >> Sean Burke pitched two-hit ball over five innings, Andrew Benintendi tied his career high with his 20th homer and visiting Chicago blanked playoff-bound Detroit to stay at 121 losses going into its season finale.

Burke (2-0) struck out six and walked three, helping stop the Tigers’ six-game winning streak.

A night after setting the post-1900 record for losses, Chicago (40-121) won for the fourth time in a five-game span.