Braves: Austin Riley Caps off Incredible July with Walk-off

Last year Austin Riley had a breakout season for the Atlanta Braves and he’s following that up with a season that might be even better.

The Atlanta Braves finished off another good month picking up 18 wins in July, and a good majority of those wins are credited to MVP candidate Austin Riley.

Offense was hard to come by on Sunday afternoon — as has become the case on days games and series finales — but it was the Braves’ third baseman who delivered with a walk-off hit to put an exclamation mark on one of the best months we’ve ever seen by a hitter in franchise history.

In the month of July, Austin Riley hit .423 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles, 25 RBI, and a 1.338 OPS.

That walk-off double — his 26 extra-base hit of the month — broke Hank Aaron’s franchise record of 25 extra-base hits in a single month.

He should undoubtedly be the NL Player of the Month, and it’s hard to imagine he isn’t at least in the conversation among the top three or five MVP candidates.

Braves: Max Fried Dominates on the Mound

While Riley provided the offense, it was the team’s ace, Max Fried, who led the way on the mound tossing 7 shutout innings allowing just 4 hits and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts.

The lefty was perfect through the first 12 batters of the game before issuing a two-out walk in the fourth to Ketel Marte.

Jake McCarthy — who is quickly become a Braves’ nemesis — broke up the no-hit bid in the fifth.

Fried wasn’t nearly as sharp after the fourth inning as he pretty much cruised with everything working early on. He Had to battle through the next three innings.

A leadoff walk and a bunt single began the sixth, but then Fried got a strikeout lineout, and a huge pop out of Ketel Marte to end the threat.

In the seventh, he got a huge double-play after a leadoff single, but then allowed a two-out hit. Brian Snitker decided to leave him in the game, and after falling behind to Jordan Luplow, he got him to pop out.

Dylan Lee and Kenley Jansen pitched scoreless innings to finish off a brilliant performance by the pitching staff.

Braves: Was it a Catch?

The only real threat the Braves had against Arizona Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly came in the second inning.

Austin Riley, go figure, led off the inning with a double that was a foot away from getting over the brick walls in right.

Travis d’Arnaud got a one-out walk.

Then William Contreras hit a ball into the left field corner that looked like it was going to get down and score a run.

McCarthy made a great running catch, but then ran into the walk and dropped the ball.

As you can see on the video below, the third base umpire initially ruled it an out, but then changed the call once he saw the ball drop.

The runners were put in an impossible situation, and it ultimately ended up being an inning-ending double-play.

Brian Snitker admitted after the game he had never seen that before and needs to do some research to learn what he could have done differently.

The only thing he could have done is challenge whether or not it was a catch. I believe it was a catch, but it’s still unclear by the definition of the rule if the umpires would have actually overturned the ruling on the field.

If they had gone to replay and ruled it a catch, they could have put the runners back on first and second with two outs.

It might not have made much of a difference in the game, but it certainly took away one of the few run-scoring opportunities the Braves had on Sunday.

Regardless, the Braves get the sweep over the Diamondbacks thanks to more heroics by soon-to-be July Player of the Month Austin Riley.