Eury Pérez held Atlanta to one hit Friday night at loanDepot park, and the Marlins walked away with a 3-0 win. Austin Riley struck out twice and did not extend his home run streak to three games, but the Braves third baseman still carried a little more confidence into the final weekend than he had at the start of the week.
The result
Pérez’s one-hit shutout kept the Braves quiet all night, leaving Riley without the long ball he had produced in each of the previous two games against Cincinnati. Atlanta’s third baseman entered Friday after consecutive homers Wednesday and Thursday, a welcome change after a difficult season at the plate.
Riley’s week had started with a far less ordinary problem. A severe toothache woke him around 5 a.m. CT Sunday in Houston. The first dentist the club arranged could not perform a root canal because of staffing limitations. Back at Daikin Park, Riley bit into a sandwich and the pain became unbearable.
Head athletic trainer George Poulis found another dentist, and Riley had the procedure completed before returning to the ballpark. He arrived in time to celebrate Atlanta’s NL East clinch with his teammates.
“My face was half numb, but it was all good,” Riley said, adding that he would not wish an emergency root canal on anyone.
For much of the year, Riley has been dealing with a different kind of discomfort. His .222 batting average and .662 OPS are career lows, and his 197 strikeouts have established an Atlanta single-season record. The two strikeouts against Pérez added to that total.
Still, the recent power has offered a useful reminder of what Riley can be when his swing gets going. He has four homers over his last 18 games and needs one more in the final two regular-season games to reach 20. That would be a respectable late recovery after he hit only nine home runs through his first 95 games, though it remains well below the standard established by his three straight 30-homer seasons from 2021 through 2023.
“I don’t even look at the stats anymore,” Riley said. “At this point, it’s about, ‘What can I do today, and what can I do going forward?’”
Finding a simpler swing
Riley’s second-half production has improved, even as the strikeouts have climbed. Before the All-Star break, he batted .207 with nine homers, a .618 OPS and a 29.4 percent strikeout rate. After the break, he lifted his average to .247 and posted a .734 OPS with 10 homers, but his strikeout rate rose to 35.6 percent.
| Split | Batting average | Home runs | At-bats per home run | OPS | Strikeout rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before All-Star break | .207 | 9 | 38.1 | .618 | 29.4% |
| After All-Star break | .247 | 10 | 21.5 | .734 | 35.6% |
| September | .222 | 4 | 18.0 | .695 | 32.9% |
The focus lately has been on clearing away some of the video and data clutter that had made Riley feel too mechanical in the box. Last weekend, he noticed tension in his right shoulder, with the shoulder turned inward in his stance. Since then, he has tried to keep it loose and let the bat work through the hitting zone more naturally rather than forcing or flipping it.
“I definitely think this is the most confident I’ve been in a while with some of the cues and with some of the swings I’ve taken,” Riley said.
Manager Walt Weiss has seen the same even-keel player throughout the uneven season.
“Austin’s great,” Weiss said. “You never know if he’s had an MVP season or if he’s struggling. He’s the same guy. He’s worked really hard all year to get things turned around, and I think he’s moving in the right direction.”
October offers a clean page
Atlanta opens the Wild Card Series on Tuesday at Truist Park, giving Riley a fresh start after six months of searching for consistency. A productive October would not erase the frustrations of the regular season, but it would give the Braves a familiar middle-of-the-order threat at precisely the time they need one.
