Riley delivered a dramatic go-ahead, three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to fuel the Braves to a come-from-behind victory.
In the National League Wild Card series, much is obviously on the line as the margin for error is significantly slimmer. The Atlanta Braves knew it, and capitalized late in dramatic fashion in the first game of a best-of-three against their division rival.
When Austin Riley stepped up to the plate with two runners on and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, momentum seemed to be swinging the Philadelphia Phillies’ way, who held a 3-2 lead at the time. Jhoan Duran, the Phillies’ daunting closer, was on the verge of completing a second shutout inning to take a lead into the ninth inning.
Instead, Riley had other plans at the plate. He launched a 100 mph four-seamer from Duran just over the wall in right field for an exhilarating, go-ahead three-run homer to put the Braves ahead 5-3. Raisel Iglesias shut things down in the top of the ninth to close out the victory.
In the game of baseball, the sport offers its dramatic moments of redemption, no matter the track record of a player. Despite what has been a down season for Riley, he delivered when the Braves needed it most.
Atlanta no doubt needed that moment. The Braves had seemed to be on the verge of squandering the best postseason start of Chris Sale’s career, the team’s undisputed ace, in his first postseason action in five years.
Sale turned in 6 ⅓ innings of three-run ball, while tossing a postseason career-high nine strikeouts. The southpaw had surrendered a run in the first inning before settling in, up until he was pulled from the game with two of his runners on base in the top of the seventh inning.
Braves manager Walt Weiss tabbed reliever Didier Fuentes with the task of getting out of trouble. He got one out before a two-run triple from J.T. Realmuto put the Phillies ahead 3-2 in the top of the seventh, charging Sale with additional runs and putting momentum in Philadelphia’s favor.
In an effort to continue riding that momentum to victory, Phillies manager Don Mattingly tasked Duran with a lengthy outing — bringing in Duran in the bottom of the seventh, which marked his earliest appearance in a game this year.
Duran seemed to have his stuff working until it didn’t against Riley.
Riley’s heroics came as a thrilling surprise, as the odds would have gone against his favor against one of the league’s top closers. Not only that, but Riley had himself an incredibly disappointing season, as he had posted a handful of career-low numbers.
However, a couple of homers in the last week of the regular season had been an encouraging sign for the Braves as they headed into the postseason. In the Braves’ postseason opener, Riley’s prior struggles suddenly did not matter.
That is the true beauty of postseason baseball.
The Braves will be right back at it on Wednesday afternoon with a chance to clinch a series win and an NLDS date with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tyler Mahle is set to toe the rubber against Phillies’ ace Cristopher Sánchez.
With the Braves’ plan for a potential Game 3 unclear, they will be relying on Mahle to set the tone against a team he has recently dominated against. In two starts against the Phillies since he was acquired by Atlanta at the trade deadline, Mahle has allowed just one earned run against the division rival in 13 innings pitched.
Atlanta will need another gritty performance from their starter against one of the game’s top starting pitchers.
