The Braves have not had a good time playing the Phillies in the postseason recently. Austin Riley had a nightmarish 2026 season. While the end of this story isn’t yet set down in ink, the first intonations of a ritual chant could be heard on Tuesday afternoon, as Riley hit a monstrously-important three-run shot and the Braves grabbed the driver’s seat in their three-game set.
Before we get to a full recounting of events, it’s “important” to internalize that this was a crazy back-and-forth affair. The Phillies jumped ahead, the Braves tied it, the Braves jumped ahead, then the Phillies jumped ahead, and then BAM, Austin Riley made his way to the top rope, and delivered a knockout below. (Can you knock out demons? Ask Doom Guy, I don’t know. Why don’t they just talk to the Phillies?)
The Braves have done a few things well this season. First, they have employed Chris Sale. Second, their bullpen has been pretty great, especially in terms of guys like Didier Fuentes. Third, they have played good defense. None of those helped the Braves as much as they could have today, as the Phillies pulled ahead while Fuentes was pitching thanks to a defensive problem. But, who cares. Riley came through, and the Braves have a 1-0 lead.
Okay, let’s go sequentially now. This game was weird, much like the Braves’ season. A lot of weird stuff happened. Let’s go.
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Chris Sale’s day started with strikeout-walk-strikeout. In a 2-2 count, Sale threw a quite high 99 mph fastball around letter-high to Alec Bohm, and the latter jacked it to the left side of dead center. If the Braves were playing Bohm straightaway or to pull, Michael Harris II catches the ball, but he started on the same vertical “plane” as Ozzie Albies playing Bohm to pull, and couldn’t flag it down. 1-0, Phightins. A routine fly to center two pitches later got Sale back in the dugout.
The Braves basically can’t hit the Phillies version of Jesus Luzardo, and surprise surprise, they did not hit the Phillies version of Luzardo in this game. It didn’t matter that Luzardo hadn’t had a start since early in September and had thrown a four-pitch inning two days ago. The Braves had nothing, really. Fortunately, the Phillies basically couldn’t do anything about Sale, either. The next two frames had no action.
Mauricio Dubon started the bottom of the second with a bloop double to left, and then stuff got weird. Harris bunted for some reason, but okay, runner on third. Albies followed with a walk. Luzardo, Riley, and Riley’s passive trait, “WPA Vortex” (why did you take that trait, Austin?!) then resulted in something I’ve never seen before: Luzardo threw a pitch high and tight. Riley shrunk back, and the ball hit the knob of Riley’s bat… and bumped into fair territory. Dubon was dead to rights off the third base bag, and the Braves looked like they squandered an opportunity, until…
…Mike Yastrzemski, in there at DH despite a lefty on the hill given the Braves’ spare parts backend of the roster, jumped at a first pitch sinker and rolled it weakly back up the box for a seeing-eye, game tying single. Luzardo followed with a full count to Ha-Seong Kim, but struck him out on a pitch inside.
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And then, it was more rolling for Sale and Luzardo. The Braves got a couple on in the fourth — this time, Riley got legitimately plunked and the knob of his bat wasn’t involved. Yastrzemski only managed a weak flyout, though.
Sale struck out the side in the fifth, working around a two-out roller double down the line. Luzardo also kept chugging, with just a hit-by-pitch of Ronald Acuña Jr. in the bottom of the inning. In the sixth, there was a Kyle Schwarber single off Sale, and a scary moment where Bryce Harper almost hit a two-run homer but hooked it foul, but nothing else. And, in the sixth, the Phillies finally removed Luzardo — 77 pitches, five innings, a 6/1 K/BB ratio, two hit-by-pitches, and one very fortunate knob job.
The Braves wasted no time celebrating a lack of Luzardo. Harris singled with one out, and Albies wrapped his heavy bat head around a 99 mph, belt-high fastball from Alex McFarlane. The ball was nearly a homer, but instead, it hit a leaping Derek Hill in the wrist at the wall, turning into a go-ahead triple. Did the Braves score Albies? No, they did not. Riley grounded out, and Yastrzemski, now getting to face a righty, struck out.
It was a short-lived lead. Sale came out and struck out Hill, which featured a bizarre sequence where the NBC broadcast completely fell apart and seemed to have no idea who was batting, what the count was (even beyond John Kruk, who seemed to lose track of those things over the course of the game). That could’ve been a humorous aside, but it turned sinister. Sale clipped Bryan De La Cruz for his second plunking of the day, and then Bryson Stott, after trying to bunt, blooped a single on a way-inside fastball to put runners on the corners.
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That was it for Sale: a 9/1 K/BB ratio, two hit-by-pitches, and not much else. One strength had done its business, and now it was time for another: Didier Fuentes. Except, it didn’t work out that way. Fuentes did get pinch-hitter Justin Crawford to mishit an in-zone 3-1 slider and pop it up to shallow center, keeping the game tied. But, on a 1-0 pitch, J.T. Realmuto lashed a 99 fastball on the outer portion for what was called a “triple.” It wasn’t really a triple — Acuña ran over to cut the ball off but failed to glove it, allowing Realmuto to get to third. Would Stott have scored anyway? I have no idea. Fortunately, we don’t need to debate this because of Big Boss Austin Riley. Fuentes escaped the inning, but the Braves were now down.
The Phillies did a weird thing. They brought in mega-closer Jhoan Duran in the seventh. I get it. The top of this Braves lineup is, on paper, the only scary thing. Duran ate the Braves alive in the bottom of the seventh, or nearly did. He only threw 12 pitches, but the last one was a 3-1, down-the-pipe, batter licks his lips (his own lips, not Duran’s) splitter, and Acuña took a huge hack… but got under it, and the 106 mph exit velocity only went 369 feet for an easy flyout.
Dylan Lee had no trouble in the eighth, and the bottom of the frame started with Curt saying, “oh, this is one of those games” in our internal Slack, as Matt Olson hit a screaming liner right into Duran’s glove. That sentiment continued, as Dubon tried to bloop a ball to right, but it was caught.
And then, the fun began. Harris singled, his third hit of the day, on a bouncer past the mound. (Trea Turner threw the ball away, but it didn’t matter.) Duran then walked Albies. Or hit Albies. I don’t know, his 3-2 pitch missed badly and the Braves challenged but uh, I guess the box score says he got hit. And then, Austin Riley time. Remember that WPA Vortex trait? I guess he somehow got out of it, because, well, this was the biggest hit of the Braves’ season so far:
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AUSTIN RILEY GOES DEEEEP! 💣 #BravesCountry
“Riley rattles one out of here as he gave it a ride. And the Braves take the lead in the 8th!”@IngramRadio | @BravesRadioNet https://t.co/EwnYfup4yC pic.twitter.com/dRasGvxEwh— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) September 29, 2026
He knew it. The stadium knew it. The Phillies fans that hate their team for some reason (look, no real shade, we have a ton of those here too) knew it. 5-3, Braves.
The ball was apparently wind-aided. It didn’t matter; it would’ve scored both Harris and Albies anyway with two outs, and the Phillies didn’t plate another.
Raisel Iglesias slammed the door. Well, I guess it was more like, “he was there while some other guys shoved it shut.” There was a leadoff single by Brandon Marsh, but De La Cruz followed by rolling a sinker right to Dubon at short for an easy double play. (Dubon moved over to short after Dominic Smith pinch hit for Ha-Seong Kim earlier in the game.) After a brief, four-pitch battle with Stott, an easy fly to left resulted, and just like that… the exorcism was begun in earnest.
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Both Riley and Albies had struggle bug seasons, but came through in a big way, with two big extra-base hits a walk, and a hit-by-pitch between them. (Also that weird off-the-knob thing.) The top of the lineup did basically nothing, 0-for-11 with a hit-by-pitch and three strikeouts, but it didn’t matter with Riley in the house.
The series continues tomorrow as the Braves will try to get an old priest and a young priest onto the field and advance to the next round.
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