Returning to the scene of a historically lopsided loss, Pablo López on Thursday night gained a measure of personal revenge while also putting the Marlins’ playoff chances back on course.

López logged five shutout innings and was backed by Chad Wallach’s RBI single and Jon Berti’s two-run double that provided enough support for the Marlins to edge the Braves, 4-2, at Truist Park.

• Box score

Jesús Aguilar provided insurance with a solo home run in the 7th, and the Marlins snapped their four-game losing streak, including the first three games of this series in Atlanta, and took a significant step forward in securing the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2003.

“Obviously, every game is important in a short season like this one,” López said. “We knew coming into today that this is the biggest game yet. We’ve seen the Braves the last three days. Obviously, it’s a tough matchup.”

The Marlins (29-28) moved a full game in front of the idle Phillies (28-29) and reduced their magic number to finish in second place in the National League East to two. Miami could stamp its postseason ticket as early as Friday, with a win at the Yankees combined with a Phillies loss at the Rays. The top two teams in each division qualify for the playoffs, as well as two Wild Card teams.

“These are stressful games,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “I don't think there's any getting around it. I've had teams that have had seven- and eight-game leads with 15 to play, and for guys, it's different. They're tough games to play. Again, it's a good experience for us and for our guys to be playing this style.”

Adding to the stress in the series finale was the fact it rained most of the day in Atlanta. The start time was delayed one hour and 39 minutes, and the field and mound were wet all night.

“The biggest battle with a game like this is, 'Are we going to play or not?' It's just mentally dealing with the delay,” Mattingly said.

Brandon Kintzler recorded his first career six-out save, which also was his 60th overall save and his 11th this season. The veteran inherited a bases-loaded situation with no outs in the eighth inning and allowed a two-run single to Dansby Swanson. Then, with two outs in the ninth inning, he slipped on the muddy mound after throwing a pitch to Travis d’Arnaud. But he was able to regroup and get d’Arnaud looking at strike three with Freddie Freeman on second.

“He comes in a tough spot,” Mattingly said. “I’d trade outs for runs at that point. … Obviously, a great job getting us through there, and he had to go through their top of the order in the ninth.”

In his five-year tenure as Marlins manager, Mattingly hasn’t often used a designated catcher for any of his starters. But this month he has done so with López, matching him with Wallach, who is Jorge Alfaro’s backup.

Wallach, the son of former Marlins bench coach Tim Wallach, became the club’s second catcher after Francisco Cervelli’s season ended due to a concussion sustained on Aug. 22 at Washington.

Working with Wallach in his last three starts, López has allowed three earned runs in 17 1/3 innings (1.56 ERA) with 19 strikeouts and five walks.

López’s sixth strikeout was Ronald Acuña Jr., a fellow Venezuelan. It also was a benchmark, because it was the Miami right-hander’s 200th career strikeout.

• Notes: Miami's rotation plans; roster moves

The Marlins switched to Wallach with López after the pitcher’s start Sept. 9 at Atlanta, where he was on the wrong side of history. In that game, the Braves won, 29-9, setting a National League record for most runs scored in a game. López surrendered seven runs in 1 2/3 innings.

One of the biggest changes López made since that blowout loss to the Braves is not falling into patterns.

“Obviously, we have a plan, but the plan is always subject to change as well,” he said. “The biggest thing for me was, you have your Plan A, but you also have to go out and have a Plan B, Plan C and Plan D also. To be able to read the swings,and adjust to what's happening.”

His plans paid off, and the Marlins were able to break through off Braves rookie Ian Anderson for three runs in the sixth inning for all the run support he and the bullpen would need.

“That was a really big win,” Wallach said. “We've been doing that all year. When we've gotten down and may have lost a couple of games, we've battled back when we've needed to. We played a great game, and that's just something we've done all year. Hopefully, we can continue it going on.”