Riley powers Atlanta to 1-0 series lead
ATLANTA — Austin Riley homered and drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Atlanta Braves a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NL Championship Series on Saturday night.
Blake Treinen struck out Freddie Freeman to open the ninth before giving up Ozzie Albies’ bloop single to center field. Albies stole second before Riley followed with his line drive into the left-field corner.
“That was my mindset — put something in play and see what happens,” Riley said after delivering the first walk-off hit of his career.
The 24-year-old slugger spread his arms in celebration as he rounded first base before getting mobbed by teammates in a happy swarm that carried into shallow center field.
“As soon as he hit it, I took off,” Albies said. “I started yelling, screaming all the way to home plate.”
Riley also homered in the fourth.
The teams are meeting in the NL Championship Series for the second consecutive season. The Dodgers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win last year’s playoff in seven games before also winning the World Series.
Game 2 is Sunday night in Atlanta before the series shifts to Los Angeles.
The Dodgers wasted a scoring opportunity in the top of the ninth. Will Smith got two outs before walking Chris Taylor. Pinch-hitter Cody Bellinger hit a soft single to right field, but Taylor got caught in a rundown between second and third that started with right fielder Joc Pederson’s throw to shortstop Dansby Swanson.
“I thought if he would have kept going, he might have had a chance at third,” Riley said. “But that was a great play by Dansby. Just being able to get out of that inning there was huge.”
Corey Knebel worked one inning as the Dodgers’ opener in a bullpen game, giving up one run. Eddie Rosario led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on Albies’ groundout and scored on Knebel’s wild pitch to Riley.
The Dodgers pulled even in the second on AJ Pollock’s two-out double and Taylor’s single to left field.
Will Smith’s homer in the fourth gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Riley’s twoout homer in the fourth tied the game.
Braves starter Max Fried gave up two runs and eight hits in six innings. Fried threw 23 consecutive strikes, the most in a postseason game in 20 years, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Dodgers outhit the Braves 10-6 but left runners on base in each of the first seven innings except the fourth. Los Angeles hitters were 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
“We prevented runs all night. So we didn’t not win the game because we didn’t prevent runs,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.