Riley’s late homer gives Braves a Game 1 win over Phillies

Austin. Riley.

The Braves’ beleaguered third baseman, who struck out a franchise-record 201 times in 159 games during the regular season, hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to give the Braves a 5-3 win over the Phillies in the first game of a National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park.

“Man, it felt good, no doubt,” Riley said. “Everybody knows kind of how my season went — not the way I wanted it to. But that’s the beauty of the postseason. You kind of get a clean slate and go out there and try to do something for the boys and for this city.”

Riley hit the first offering from Phillies closer Jhoan Duran 385 feet over the right field wall. The homer, Riley’s sixth career playoff home run, came with two outs.

On Sept. 6, in Philadelphia, Riley hit a game-tying triple off Duran that gave the Braves a 5-4 win at Citizens Bank Park.

“(Duran’s) got the four-seam, he’s got the sinker. You just try to push him out, push him up,” Riley said. “You’re not going to get many mistakes with those back-end guys. You typically only get one an at-bat and you can’t miss it. I was fortunate enough to put a good swing on it.”

After Riley’s heroics, Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, pitching to the backdrop of chants of “Aust-in Ri-ley” from the less-than-capacity crowd of 30,127, allowed a leadoff single in the ninth but got a 6-4-3 double play. A soft fly out to left ended the game.

The Braves can advance to the NL Division Series with a win at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Truist Park.

“There’s no better feeling,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I talked to the guys before the game, just to embrace this because it doesn’t get more fun than this, playing this game in the postseason.

“But the emotions were — yeah, you can imagine. You go from losing the lead to something like that. The swing in emotions are enormous. What a big home run.”

Tuesday’s win was the Braves’ 43rd comeback victory of 2026, but just their 10th when trailing after seven innings. On this day, despite the pressure of facing their division rivals and the looming possibility of squandering home-field advantage, there was no sense the white flag was ready to be waved.

Shortstop Mauricio Dubón explained why.

“We’re dogs,” he said. “We got a good heart. Everybody out here trying to prove something.”

The late-game rally by the Braves ended a back-and-forth affair over three of the final four innings.

Braves starter Chris Sale began the seventh inning pitching with the lead for the first time all day. But a 2-1 slider grazed Bryan De La Cruz’s jersey, and a Bryson Stott single to right put runners at the corners and ended Sale’s day.

Didier Fuentes, making his postseason debut, got pinch hitter Justin Crawford to pop out to shallow center. Veteran catcher J.T. Realmuto walked to the plate to play the role of spoiler.

His two-out base hit went into the right field corner, where Ronald Acuña Jr. couldn’t corral the ball cleanly. De La Cruz scored. Stott scored. The Phillies took the lead 3-2 going to the bottom of the seventh.

Sale was charged three runs after leaving with one out in the seventh. He fanned nine, walked one and hit two batters.

The Phillies had Duran pitch the bottom of the seventh and eighth. He retired the Braves in order in the seventh and, facing the heart of the Braves’ lineup in the eighth, allowed a two-out infield single to Michael Harris II and hit Ozzie Albies on the foot.

That gave the Braves life. And Riley played the hero.

“It’s awesome,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “His season obviously didn’t get off to a start he wanted, but, man, he’s been trending up and, obviously, been working hard. To come through in a moment like that was special.

“Everybody just stoked for him. Big moment for the team, but for ‘Riles’ as well. That was amazing. Backside homer off a guy pumping a 100 with one fastball that goes up and one that goes down. That was awesome.”

On a warm and sunny September day, not much action between the lines had occurred before then.

The Phillies delivered the first blow against Sale in the first inning with a two-out RBI double from Alec Bohm. Bohm tomahawked a 2-2 fastball up in the zone to deep center field that a leaping Harris couldn’t get to. The hit scored Kyle Schwarber, who had walked with one out, from first.

After Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo threw a nine-pitch, 1-2-3 first inning, Dubón started a rally by leading off the second inning with a double into the corner in left field. He went to third on Harris’ sacrifice bunt before Albies walked.

A hard-to-believe, bad-luck moment came next. A 1-1, up-and-in fastball to Riley hit the knob of the bat and trickled back to Luzardo, who caught Dubón in a rundown between third and home. Dubón, dead to rights, at least had the awareness to stay alive long enough for Riley to reach and Albies to scamper to third.

“My job is to get in the rundown so we can stay in the same spot,” Dubón said. “I knew I was not gonna get out of the rundown. So, for me, it was just trying to distract him and try to do something.”

It was left up to Mike Yastrzemski, who was previously 0-for-7 with two strikeouts against Luzardo and 0-for-13 in five playoff games with the Giants in 2021. The Braves’ designated hitter rolled an RBI single through the middle that tied the game at 1.