ATLANTA — It looked as though the Cubs had escaped the eighth inning Tuesday still clinging to a narrow lead against the Braves. Right fielder Seiya Suzuki was set up under Sean Murphy’s fly with two outs, waving off center fielder Cody Bellinger.
Then, at the last second, the ball disappeared in the lights and fell to the grass as Suzuki stabbed at it. The tying and go-ahead runs scored.
‘‘That did contribute to that play happening,’’ Suzuki said through an interpreter when he was asked if he lost the ball in the lights. ‘‘But ever since I was playing in Japan, you do have to take that into consideration whenever you go out there. So if I do say that, then that’s an excuse. So I’m not going to say that.’’
Plenty of other moments could be used to pick apart the Cubs’ 7-6 loss, but the error by Suzuki was the ultimate turning point.
The result enabled the Brewers to clinch the National League Central and dropped the Cubs a game behind the Diamondbacks in the battle for the second NL wild-card spot. It cut their lead over the Marlins in the race for the third — and final — spot to a half-game.
‘‘Seiya has been carrying us for over a month and a half offensively,’’ manager David Ross said. ‘‘He’s put us on his back. A lot of guys have been scuffling, and he’s been the guy who’s swinging the bat the best. So we’re not going to highlight one mistake.’’
Suzuki has been one of the hottest hitters in the majors. He entered play Tuesday with the highest OPS (1.110) in the NL since Aug. 18, and his 2-for-5 night against the Braves included a two-run triple.
‘‘I’m happy for those comments,’’ Suzuki said of the support he received from Ross and his teammates. ‘‘But, obviously, these games are really, really important for us. And the fact that we dropped it is obviously not the best result that we want right now at this point in the season.’’
On paper, the Cubs have the toughest schedule among the wild-card hopefuls to end the season. They have two more games against the Braves before finishing with three against the Brewers in Milwaukee. They likely have to take at least one game in Atlanta to stay competitive. And with ace Justin Steele on the mound Tuesday, they gave themselves a shot.
Steele kept the Braves’ offense quiet through five innings, giving the Cubs’ hitters time to build a 6-0 lead. He was charged with three runs in 5⅓ innings.
His night included six consecutive strikeouts from the second through the fourth before Ross started noticing signs that he was ‘‘running out of gas’’ in the sixth.
Kevin Pillar led off the sixth with the Braves’ major-league-leading 300th home run. Then with one out, Steele gave up a double, a walk and an RBI single.
‘‘Those situations are always tough because the competitor in me wants to stay out there,’’ Steele said. ‘‘But you also have to put trust in the staff, knowing what situations are coming about, who’s coming up in the order, what we have down in the bullpen, the matchups.’’
Jose Cuas yielded an RBI double to Marcell Ozuna right away but got out of the sixth with a three-run lead.
Javier Assad allowed a two-run homer to Ronald Acuna Jr. in the seventh, and the crowd broke into ‘‘M-V-P’’ chants as the Braves pulled to 6-5.
Drew Smyly took over in the eighth and appeared to get out of the inning before Suzuki missed the would-be final out.
‘‘It happens to every single one of us,’’ Smyly said. ‘‘We’ve all made errors. All we can do is turn the page and come back tomorrow.’’
