ATLANTA — Austin Riley made certain the Dodgers exited Atlanta realizing that regardless of their dominance on this 12 months’s season collection, they nonetheless have cause to control the Braves, who might spend the next weeks and months reasserting themselves as legit World Sequence contenders.
Riley’s second multi-homer sport of the younger season backed Bryce Elder’s sturdy begin and allowed the Braves to snap a three-game skid with a 4-3 win over the Dodgers on Sunday evening at Truist Park. The victory prevented Los Angeles from sweeping the six-game season collection.
“We didn’t win the collection, however this was an enormous win,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “It exhibits us we’re crew too.”
Riley hit a two-run shot towards Dustin Might within the first inning and added one other towards the Dodgers starter within the third. The Braves third baseman’s eighth profession multihomer sport offered an early cushion for Elder, who allowed two runs and 4 hits over 5 innings. Proper-handed reliever Daysbel Hernández retired every of the 4 batters he confronted and nearer Raisel Iglesias notched three strikeouts, together with two with the tying run at third base, in a scoreless ninth.
For sure, the Braves exited this collection feeling a lot better than they did after they exited Dodger Stadium on April 2, having simply opened the season with a seventh straight loss. They’ve gone 15-11 since then and so they have gained 10 of their previous 15 video games.
“I believe it is a actually good ballclub right here,” Riley stated. “We’ve proven it at instances and we’ve struggled at instances. However that is one thing to construct off of to get that confidence that we will compete with the perfect.”
Requested earlier than the sport concerning the Dodgers’ nice depth, Snitker identified the defending World Sequence champions additionally get nice manufacturing from their assortment of stars.
Dodgers standouts Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman is perhaps the sport’s high trio and cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández ranks among the many league leaders with 9 homers. However when Ronald Acuña Jr. is activated from the injured checklist close to the top of this month, he’ll crew with Riley, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson to provide Atlanta its personal high-quality quartet.
Acuña was the 2023 Nationwide League MVP and Olson hit 54 homers that very same 12 months. Ozuna ranks among the many sport’s high 10 gamers in OPS for the reason that begin of 2023. And Riley was bidding for a fourth straight 30-homer season earlier than his 2024 season ended with a fractured hand suffered in August.
“The standard of hitter [Riley] is, it was only a matter of time,” Elder stated. “It’s coming at an enormous time proper now.”
Riley has historically been a gradual starter. He spent this season’s first month swinging and lacking extra ceaselessly than he has up to now. The 31.7 p.c strikeout fee he carried into Sunday was noticeably increased than the 24-25 p.c charges he produced over the previous few seasons.
Nonetheless, Riley finds himself having hit .292 with eight homers and a .847 OPS via 33 video games. He stated he was “embarrassed” on April 3, when he ended the 0-7 season-opening street journey having gone 3-for-27 with 11 strikeouts. He has hit .336 with a .949 OPS within the 26 video games which have adopted.
“Statistically, this has been one of many higher begins to my profession,” Riley stated. “I’m feeling good proper now. I’m simply attempting to construct off of that.”
Riley hit a career-high 38 residence runs in 2022 and he adopted that with 37 homers the next season. May he lastly attain the 40-homer mark this 12 months? Nicely, he ‘s at the moment on tempo to hit 39 homers and that is across the time he has usually began to get sizzling.
Regardless that he missed most of Might final 12 months with a sore indirect, he nonetheless has homered as soon as each 15.5 at-bats within the season’s second month. So, he’s just some days into what has historically been month. He can also look ahead to July, a month throughout which he has homered as soon as each 12.7 at-bats.
“When he’s utilizing that gap-to-gap strategy like that, that’s a very good signal,” Snitker stated. “We all know what he can do when he will get sizzling.”
