Mr. Clutch: Riley comes up big again, Braves win Game 3
ATLANTA - Austin Riley keeps coming up with one clutch hit after another on baseball’s biggest stage.
Riley drove in the first run of the Braves’ 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 3 of the World Series on a damp Friday night in Atlanta.
The Braves are now up 2-1 in the series, two wins away from their first championship since 1995.
Their burly third baseman is a huge reason why.
After a breakout year in 2021 that sparks chants of "MVP! MVP! MVP!" from Atlanta fans when he comes to the plate, Riley has carried his regular-season success right to the postseason.
Riley provided the only offense that would be needed on a night when the Braves pitchers did not allow a hit until the eighth inning.
BRAVES BLANK ASTROS, TAKE 2-1 LEAD IN WORLD SERIES
With one out and two runners aboard, Riley yanked one down the third-base line for a double that sent Eddie Rosario scooting home.
Travis d’Arnaud provided some insurance with a mammoth homer over the center-field wall in the eighth, but it’s impossible to ignore Riley’s impact on the Atlanta lineup.
During the NL Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers, Riley went 5 of 15 with a homer to help the Braves advance to face the 106-win Los Angeles Dodgers, the reigning champs and the team that sent Atlanta packing in 2020.
Not this time.
Not with Riley in the middle of things.
BRAVES PITCHED SEVEN NO-HIT INNINGS TO ASTROS IN WORLD SERIES
He won Game 1 with a walk-off hit in the ninth. In the Game 6 clincher, Riley put the Braves ahead with a two-out RBI double in the first, yet another clutch hit that was overshadowed by Rosario’s MVP-winning performance.
Riley is at it again in the World Series.
In Game 1 at Houston, he doubled in a run in the first inning to help spark a 6-2 victory.
On Friday, he jumped on a cutter from rookie Luis Garcia, smoking it just inside the third-base bag — a huge blow in the first nail-biting game of the Series.
The big hits just keep on coming for the 24-year-old cleanup hitter.
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