BRAVES NOTES: AUSTIN RILEY, MATT OLSON COME THROUGH, BRYCE ELDER AND MORE

ATLANTA — Austin Riley’s single in the 10th inning helped the Atlanta Braves finish off a 7-2 homestand with a 4-3 win over the Cleveland Guardians. The Braves have now won five-straight series and are 19-7 on the season.

Despite Riley’s heroics, the homestand was a difficult stretch for the middle of the Braves order. Riley finished with two hits Sunday, including the game winner, but was just 4-for-33 during the homestand. Brian Snitker said that he was happy to see Riley finally get some results after having some good at-bats with nothing to show for it.

That kid’s been hitting the ball so good lately. He’s had two or three balls that I think in another month would’ve been homers,” Snitker said of Riley. “He’s making good contact. That’s the thing, he’s just gotta stay with himself like he always does. He always gives himself a chance. I was really happy for him to get that one right there.”

Riley said that it was good to finally see some good results, especially against a tough arm like Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase.

“No doubt. Just gotta keep staying after it and trying to put up good at bats. It was nice to come through for the team,” Riley said.

“I’ve been through it before, so I know what it feels like,” Riley added on his struggles. “Especially when things aren’t going your way It’s all part of the mental game. You just gotta continue to work and know that the work that you are doing is good.”

Riley wasn’t the only one that had a bit of a breakthrough in the game. Matt Olson launched a ball that left the bat at 106.6 mph in the fourth inning, but watched it settle into Guardians’ center fielder Tyler Freeman’s glove just shy of the warning track. Olson came through though in the eighth inning with a broken bat single that had an exit velocity of 59.3 mph that scored Ozzie Albies to tie the game. Olson finished Sunday’s game 1-for-4 and was just 3-for-30 on the homestand.

“That’s just the kind of thing that gets you going too,” Snitker said of Olson’s game-tying hit. “Those guys, they never quit. They never stop working. They never stop believing. They understand that this is all part of it. This game is not easy, and they make it look easy. It’s not.”

Bryce Elder gives the Braves a chance

Bryce Elder allowed four hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings in his second start of the season Sunday. After not walking anyone in his season debut against the Marlins, Elder walked four Sunday including three in the third inning that led to the Guardians’ first run. Just when the game looked like it was about to spiral, Elder struck out Josh Naylor and then got David Fry to ground out on a nice play by Orlando Arcia at shortstop thus limiting the damage to just one run.

“It was good damage control. It felt like we were down by about six runs,” Snitker said of Elder.

The Guardians plated their second run in the fifth inning when Brayan Rocchio singled to lead off the inning. Rocchio stole second and then ultimately scored on a pair of wild pitches. Elder spiked his changeup repeatedly in the inning, but he didn’t get any help from Chadwick Tromp who tried to backhand it instead of blocking it with Rocchio at third base. Elder said after the game that he felt like he was a little too slow to adjust in the inning, but again he retired Jose Ramirez and Naylor to keep the game from getting away.

“That’s the thing about Bryce, he never stops pitching,” Snitker said. “He did it all last year. He just keeps making his pitches and doesn’t get blown away by the whole thing. He keeps his composure and did a good job. He was erratic, but I’ll take that.”

Braves accessed strike to start 10th inning

The Braves were assessed a strike to start the 10th inning when Ronald Acuña Jr. was slow to take his place at second base as the ghost runner. This was the second instance on the homestand where Acuña was slow to take the field as the runner in the 10th inning. Wednesday against the Marlins, the game was slightly delayed when Acuña couldn’t find his helmet. He eventually had to use Orlando Arcia’s and then scored on Michael Harris’ walk-off hit. Atlanta wasn’t assessed a penalty in that game.

Sunday, Acuña was standing in the dugout as Emmanuel Clase finished his warmup tosses and the ball was thrown down to second. The umpires came together before the first pitch could be made and assessed a strike to Ozzie Albies to start the inning. Albies ended up striking out, but Riley followed with the game-winning hit.

Snitker said after the game that it was something that they have never addressed with the team, but that they will be more aware of it from now on.

“No, I don’t think, I don’t know. The other day, he couldn’t find his helmet,” Snitker answered when asked if Acuña forgot he was supposed to be the runner at second. “We just gotta be more aware of that. We never addressed it with the guys. That’s my fault. We’ve always just went out there to start the inning. Most of the time you go out there, the guys are stopping the clock. It’s just a learning experience right there, because this bullpen’s tough enough without going in the hole to one of these guys. Our team will learn from that, to be more aware of that situation. It happened the other night and they didn’t do anything. So, I just figured, well, maybe it’s not a thing.”

2024-04-29T00:18:29Z dg43tfdfdgfd