The Atlanta Braves battled things out with the Reds on Tuesday night in an extra-innings affair. Pitching was the highlight as Chris Sale and the Atlanta bullpen combined for 17 strikeouts. It was an awe-inspiring night, and the only blemish came in the eighth inning.
However, the offense wasn't as lucky. They struggled to get anything going against Reds pitching, with 12 strikeouts of their own. It took an extremely gutsy send by third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo in the bottom of the ninth to tie things up.
Then it was up to the Braves' offense to find a way to win in extras. Marcell Ozuna sent fans home happy with a walk-off single after the Reds intentionally walked Riley. This put Atlanta one game away from .500, and they'll try to reach that mark on Wednesday, finally.
Braves' woes with runners in scoring position continue to plague them
It's no secret that Atlanta has struggled with runners in scoring position this season. That was a big reason why they struggled to win games early on this season. Atlanta is 68-for-293 with RISP on the season, and that problem has been even more exacerbated over the last few games when the Braves have managed to string together some wins.
The Braves' offense was 2-for-38 with RISP before last night's walk-off win. Atlanta went 1-for-9 just last night after Ozuna's big hit and that warrants a bit of concern. They need to turn things around at some point if they are going to string together a winning streak.
Atlanta came away with the win, and that's what matters most at the end of the day. But it's completely fair to be concerned with their inability to cash in with runners in scoring position.
This Braves team is way too good to struggle the way they have. Hitting coach Tim Hyers has done a good job working with this offense, and you can see improvement happening in some areas and some players are finally responding. However, the struggles with RISP is still something he's yet to solve.
Hyers is big on situational hitting, and I'm sure he's worked hard to get Atlanta hitters to buy into that. Hopefully, they'll fix it sooner rather than later, so fans don't have to depend on late-inning or extra-inning comebacks so often.