In the bottom of the 11th inning Wednesday (it was actually Thursday because that's what delays and extra-inning games do, they take a while), second baseman Ozzie Albies ended the game for the Atlanta Braves with a walkoff double to the gap between center and right field.
The hit catapulted the Braves into first place in the NL East and completed another late-inning victory for this young Atlanta ball club. Albies said he loves being in situations where he can control the game like that. He also said he instantly knew his double would score rookie Austin Riley.
Speaking of Riley...
Riley's been in the big leagues for just a few minutes; 26 games to be exact. And through 113 plate appearances he's walloped 10 home runs, few bigger than his ninth-inning bomb that cleared the wall in deep center field to send the game to extra innings.
The blast was Riley's first homer in the ninth inning with the Braves, but all but one of his home runs this season have come in the sixth inning or later. When you perform late in ballgames, the term clutch gets tossed around, even if you're only 22 years old.
How clutch is Austin Riley? Here's a breakdown of when he's hit his 10 home runs...4th Inning: 16th Inning: 37th Inning: 38th Inning: 29th Inning: 19 of his 10 dingers have been in or after the sixth inning.
— Knox Bardeen (@knoxbardeen) June 13, 2019Braves manager Brian Snitker spoke to Riley's ability to hit in high-leverage situations and also mentioned that his home runs always seem to give the Braves a boost.
Mike Soroka said that Riley has been mashing, and playing the hero, since his days with the Single-A Rome Braves.
