This was a grinder game, but slowly and methodically the Atlanta Braves took care of business against a tough opposing foe.
The lead for the Atlanta Braves in the NL East has been dialed back up to 5.5 games as the opener in New York was taken by the visitors from Georgia.
Jacob deGrom hasn’t been the same pitcher as he was in 2018, but that’s even saying that establishes a standard nearly impossible to match.
Still, with a 3.32 ERA on the season, deGrom has been as good as anybody else the Mets have been able to run out to the mound this season (Jason Vargas notwithstanding – he’s essentially matched deGrom’s results).
Accordingly, this is exactly the kind of game that the Braves’ offense needs to win simply because they will be facing pitchers like him on a routine basis come playoff time.
Tonight… that challenge was met. Here’s the 3 takeaways.
3. Austin Riley can hit anybody
It wasn’t that long ago – 10 days, in fact – that the Atlanta Braves last faced deGrom. He won that day, taking a shutout into the 9th inning until both Freddie Freeman and Josh Donaldson took him deep to spoil the pitching line a bit.
On that day, Austin Riley went 0-4 with 2 punchouts. That was a rude introduction to the finesse that deGrom brings.
Tonight was a different story: 2 AB against deGrom and 2 hits. That might normally be enough, but the first hit had some extra mustard applied to it.
https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/1144751664169021440
Yes – Austin Riley took deGrom deep off of a 98-mph fastball that deGrom thought he could overpower the rookie with.
That didn’t happen.
Let’s add these numbers up again. This was Riley’s 41st major league game. He has…
- 13 homers
- 36 RBI
- 31 runs scored
- and he’s still striking out a bunch overall
You’ve really got to love the kid’s attitude and especially his ‘learning’ approach to the game. It’s clearly paid dividends and he’s also proving that the Braves were right in making him a 1st round draft pick… and as a hitter, not a pitcher.
On the night, Riley was 2 for 3 with a 3rd time on base thanks to a grazed hit-by-pitch. Remarkable what he’s been doing.