Braves Recap: Austin Riley homers as the Braves shut out Padres 2-0

The Atlanta Braves played a close, very well-pitched game against the Padres on Monday evening. Thanks to a two-run bomb off the bat of Austin Riley, the Braves found themselves with an early lead that they would never relinquish as they shut out the Padres by the score of 2-0.

It was a late start for Braves fans on the East Coast, but the scoring got started early in the contest. After Ronald Acuna Jr. made it to second base to lead off the game on what was somewhat generously ruled a double, Matt Olson made a loud out and then Austin Riley came to the plate. He, too, made loud contact off of Ryan Weathers on a rocket of a home run to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.

Max Fried got to work after that he sure didn't look like a guy that was coming off the IL as he was mowing Padres hitters down early and often. Through five innings, Max gave up no runs on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts. Almost more importantly, he was only at 79 pitches and the only question was how much longer the Braves were going to let him go given that it was his first start back.

As it turns out, five innings would be all the Braves would give Fried as Dylan Lee entered the game in the sixth inning. Fortunately for all those involved (except the Padres), Lee was excellent in throwing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

With the Braves' bats running cold with the notable exception of Ronald Acuna Jr. who had three hits on the night, the Braves turned to Jesse Chavez in the eighth inning of a two-run ballgame. King Jesse made things a little too interesting as he had two runners on with one out, but he continued his logic-defying performances as he got Manny Machado to ground into an inning ending double play.

After the offense came up empty in the top of the ninth, it all came down to AJ Minter and whether or not he could hold the lead. As he is known to do, Minter set the Padres down in order to secure the Braves' seventh win in a row.