*Photo from the New York Times*
Atlanta leads series 1-0
In a rematch of the 2020 NLCS, this year's version got off to a similar start. A victory for the Atlanta Braves. Austin Riley homered, he delivered the walk off hit, and the Braves defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 on Saturday night.
With his walk off single in the 9th, Riley became the youngest player in Braves history to have a walk off hit in the playoffs, with Riley being 24 years and 197 days old. Riley's walk off hit came off Blake Treinen, who he also got a go ahead home run against in game one of the 2020 NLCS. It's also the first walk off hit of Riley's career.
Riley said of his first career walk off that "That was my mindset, put something in play and see what happens. That was my first walk off hit ever. I came up in quite a few situations earlier in the season and wasn't able to get it done. But to get it done tonight was awesome. That was huge tonight, to get that first one out and under your belt. Hopefully tomorrow is the same outcome."
The Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, when Eddie Rosario came across to score on a wild pitch. In the second inning, Chris Taylor gave the answer, with an RBI single tying the game 1-1. In the top of the 4th, Will Smith hit a solo home run to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead, but Riley answered with a solo home run of his own in the bottom half, making it a 2-2 game. In the 9th, his walk off single gave the Braves a 3-2 win.
Dodgers second baseman Trea Turner said of Riley that "He’s come a long way in a short time, I feel like. Even last year, I think that he didn’t have all these tools. He can beat you in so many ways now, and he always had that power, but now he’s putting together such good at-bats. He’s a polished hitter and hats off to him because I think he’s gotten to the point where he’s been a really good player and there’s a reason why fans are chanting MVP for him."
Will Smith got the win for the Braves, delivering a shutout 9th inning to give the Braves offense a chance to take care of business in the bottom of the 9th. Max Fried got the start and delivered a strong outing, allowing two runs on 8 hits, walking no one and fanning 5 hitters in 6 innings pitched, getting the no decision. Tyler Matzek and Luke Jackson also worked shutout innings of relief.
It was Treinen who got the loss, giving up the single to Riley in the 9th. The Dodgers employed a bullpen game, with Corey Knebel starting, and throwing the first inning of the game, allowing one run. Tony Gonsolin allowed the home run to Riley in the 4th in 1 2/3 innings pitched. Other than that, the combination of Phil Bickford, Justin Bruihl, Alex Vesia, Joe Kelly, and Kenley Jansen kept the Braves offense at bay.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the loss that "There’s a situational at-bat in there that I’ll take our guy anytime and we didn’t come through. It happens. It’s baseball. But I thought tonight, considering the stuff that Fried had out there, get him out after six, I thought we took good at-bats against him. We just couldn’t push enough runs across."
Game two of the series is on Sunday night, with Max Scherzer getting the start for the Dodgers as they look to get in the win column, while Ian Anderson takes the mound for the Braves.
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