AP photo Atlanta Braves players celebrate after completing a sweep of the Miami Marlins in the NLDS.

HOUSTON (AP) — Not since the days of John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine had the Atlanta Braves pitched like this in the playoffs.

And even those future Hall of Famers didn’t throw the way these Braves have this postseason.

“What those guys did on the mound is almost mind-blowing,” manager Brian Snitker said.

Rookie Kyle Wright dazzled for six innings in his postseason debut, and the Braves rode their superb pitching to beat the Miami Marlins 7-0 Thursday for a three-game sweep and their first trip to the NL Championship Series since 2001.

Wright (1-0) was sharp despite not pitching since Sept. 25, allowing three hits and walking two with a career-high seven strikeouts. A.J. Minter, Jacob Webb and Shane Greene finished the five-hitter.

Atlanta became the second team in history to throw four shutouts in the first five playoff games, joining the 1905 New York Giants behind Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson and Joe McGinnity.

Atlanta had lost eight straight Division Series, including in each of the previous two seasons, before outscoring the Marlins 18-5, including 11-0 in the final two games. The Braves are 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA in the postseason, allowing five runs in 49 innings after ranking 15th in the majors in the regular season with a 4.41 ERA.

D’Arnaud doubled twice, with the first one driving in two runs in Atlanta’s big third inning. The veteran, who bounced around three teams in a tough 2019, helped steady Atlanta’s young starters, was 6 for 10 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs in the sweep.

DODGERS 12, PADRES 3

Justin Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers have completed the first step of what they hope is a long stay in the Lone Star State.

Turner put the Dodgers ahead with a record-breaking hit in a big inning fueled by a nice stop-gone-bad by Fernando Tatis Jr., and they closed out a three-game NL Division Series sweep of the San Diego Padres in Arlington, Tex.

Will Smith set a Dodgers postseason record with five hits, and Joc Pederson had a two-run single to cap that decisive five-run third as Los Angeles advanced to its fourth NL Championship Series in five years. The Dodgers lost to the Washington Nationals in a five-game division series last season.

Turner’s RBI single made it 3-2 and was his 64th career postseason hit, breaking a tie with Steve Garvey for the most in Dodgers postseason history.

That came right after Tatis, the 21-year-old budding superstar, made a diving play on Corey Seager’s hard grounder, but then tried to make a throw from his knee. The ball skipped along the dirt and past first baseman Eric Hosmer, allowing Mookie Betts to score the tying run.

After 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger was intentionally walked with two outs after already having a 2-0 count, Pollock drove home Turner with a single, and Pederson lined his single over the outstretched glove of third baseman Manny Machado to make it 6-2.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ASTROS 11,ATHLETICS 4

Three years after a sign-stealing scheme propelled the Astros to their first championship, Houston’s star-studded lineup did little during the regular season to quiet criticism it could only hit when cheating.

Back in the postseason, they’re banging away as well as ever — no trash cans necessary.

Carlos Correa hit a go-ahead, three-run homer after Michael Brantley’s two-run shot in the fourth inning, helping the Astros beat the Oakland Athletics on Thursday to clinch their home-run heavy AL Division Series in four games.

Correa drove in five as the Astros — October villains to many a year after their espionage was exposed — advanced to the AL Championship Series for the fourth consecutive season. They improved to 5-1 in the playoffs after struggling to a 29-31 record in the pandemic-shortened season.

The Astros and A’s combined for 24 homers — 12 each — the most in a postseason series of five games or fewer.

YANKEES 5, RAYS 1

Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres hit impressive home runs, Jordan Montgomery and three relievers combined on a three-hitter and the New York Yankees forced a deciding fifth game in their AL Division Series in San Diego.

The Yankees bounced back from two straight losses against their AL East rivals to set up an expected showdown between aces Gerrit Cole of New York and Blake Snell of Tampa Bay on Friday night. Cole will be pitching on short rest for the first time in his big league career.

Chad Green, Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman combined for five hitless innings of relief, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters. Green pitched two perfect innings for the win, and Chapman got four outs for his first save of this postseason. He struck out Arozarena on a 101 mph sinker to end the eighth.

Montgomery went four innings in his first appearance since Sept. 24, holding the Rays to one run and three hits while striking out four and walking three. He struck out Arozarena in the first and retired the breakout star on a grounder in the fourth.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases in the third but got just one run, on Brandon Lowe’s fielder’s choice.