Austin Riley continued his hot hitting with his 21st home run and three RBIs as the visiting Atlanta Braves took a 5-3 win over the New York Mets on Thursday afternoon.
Riley was 2-for-4 and his two-run homer sparked a three-run outburst in the fourth inning that put the Braves in front to stay. He added a run-scoring single in the fifth, his 10th RBI of the series.
Riley extended his hitting streak to eight games, in which he’s 14-for-32 (.438) with nine extra-base hits and 13 RBIs. He has homered in the last three games and five of the last seven.
The Braves won three of five games in the series, pulled to within one game of the .500 mark and to within four games of New York in the National League East.
Atlanta also got home runs from Abraham Almonte, his fifth, and Dansby Swanson, whose solo shot gave him a career-high 18. Ozzie Albies drove in his team-leading 69th run.
The Mets scored a run in the third on Dominic Smith’s single and got two more on Pete Alonso’s tape-measure home run, his 23rd, that reached the third level at Citi Field.
Atlanta starter Drew Smyly showed no ill effects from the leg injury that forced him to leave his last game after four innings. The southpaw pitched four innings Thursday and allowed three runs on nine hits, with one walk and six strikeouts.
Jesse Chavez (1-2) earned the win with one scoreless inning to lower his ERA to 1.64 in nine appearances with the Braves. Tyler Matzek (two innings), Luke Jackson (one inning) and Will Smith (one inning) covered the final four innings. Smith worked around a hit and earned his 21st save.
New York starter Taijuan Walker (7-5) pitched five innings and allowed five runs on six hits, with two walks and seven strikeouts.
–Field Level Media