Braves third baseman Austin Riley might be the best hitter in baseball right now. His two homers led the Braves past the Pirates 7-1 at Truist Park on Sunday. The Braves took three of four from Pittsburgh.
Here are five takeaways from Sunday:
1. Riley is on the hottest streak of his career. He homered twice, including a three-run shot in the first inning that put the Braves up 3-1. His success can be defined simply: He’s making consistent contact inside the strike zone and he’s chasing fewer outside pitches. When he first started finding his footing, the power wasn’t there. Now, it’s all come together.
“It’s very nice to finally tap into some power, drive the ball,” Riley said. “Being able to put some runs on the board for the team is very nice. Just the work we put in in the cage, the mechanical side, the mental side trying to figure that out, is definitely helping a lot.”
If Riley keeps “figuring it out,” the Braves will be leading an All-Star campaign this summer.
2. It was Riley’s second career multi-homer game. His other came earlier in the weekend, when he homered twice Friday in the Braves’ 20-1 victory. He had four homers and nine RBIs in the four-game series. Riley has six homers and 10 extra-base hits over his past seven games, becoming the first player in franchise history to achieve such totals over that span.
“I’ve been with Austin since 2016 and every level, he’ll have a little success and then try to figure it out,” starter Max Fried said. “He’s a smart player. He’s a smart and hard-working kid. I knew it was a matter of time before he got comfortable and confident. You can see it in his defense. You can see it in his at-bats. He doesn’t give in, even with two strikes. He has a plan up there and he’s sticking to it. It’s really, really fun to see.”
3. Starter Max Fried has looked much more like himself returning from the injured list. Sunday marked his fourth consecutive strong start, and while he didn’t have his best stuff, he battled through seven innings. The southpaw allowed one run on four hits, walking three and striking out two. He constantly generated soft contact.
4. If only the Braves competed in the National League Central. Their dominance over the division has helped keep them afloat during a disappointing start. The Braves are 10-4 against the Central, which was considered arguably the weakest division entering the season. The Braves are 4-0 in series play against the Cubs (twice), Brewers and Pirates. They’ve yet to play the first-place Cardinals or Reds, both of whom they’ll see in June.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
5. Maybe this will be remembered as the series the Braves recovered from their disappointing start. It already flipped the script on their season in one notable statistic. The Braves entered Friday with a -19 run differential after enduring a painful extra-innings loss to begin the series. Over the next three days, the Braves outscored Pittsburgh 33-3. Their run differential is now +11.
“It was (a timely series win),” manager Brian Snitker said. “It was tough series with the Mets (earlier in the homestand). We lost a tough one here the first game of the series. That was a gut punch, too. It was good to bounce back and win these three.”
Stat to know
1-1/2 (The Mets dropped consecutive games to the Marlins while the Braves rolled against Pittsburgh, further tightening the National League East. The Braves are in second place, just 1-1/2 games behind New York.)
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Quotable
“He’s a pretty huggable guy. Look at him. I wouldn’t mind giving him one myself.” - Snitker on Pablo Sandoval, who eagerly waits in the dugout to hug every teammate after a home run. He’s been hugging Riley quite often, lately.
Matty Ice
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw the first pitch Sunday. And no, Julio Jones was not at the receiving end of it.
Up next
The Braves (23-24) are off Monday and begin a two-game series Tuesday in Boston against the first-place Red Sox.
