INNER JOIN with a SELECT TOP

While generating a script, I tried to modify a where for inner join . However, the time when running with inner join was more than 10 minutes and with the where, it was in a matter of seconds, as the example below. I would like to know why this difference in performance.

Note: I entered only the beginning of the script.

SELECT
   cs.sym as 'Status',
   crt.sym as 'Tipo',
   ccc.last_name as 'Contato',
   co.abbreviation as 'Lotação do contato',

   ISNULL((SELECT TOP 1
                    cc.last_name
             FROM
                    act_log al WITH (NOLOCK), ca_contact cc WITH (NOLOCK)
             WHERE
                    cr.persid = al.call_req_id
                    AND al.analyst = cc.contact_uuid
                    AND al.type = 'cl'
             ORDER BY al.id DESC),'') as 'Fechada por',

             --OU--

    ISNULL((SELECT TOP 1
                    cc.last_name

             FROM call_req as cr

               inner join act_log as al on (cr.persid = al.call_req_id)
               inner join ca_contact as cc on (al.analyst = cc.contact_uuid)

             WHERE al.type = 'soln'

             ORDER BY al.id DESC),'') as 'Fechada por',