ATLANTA — Austin Riley’s three-run homer capped a two-out rally in the eighth inning and lifted the Atlanta Braves to a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in a back-and-forth opening game of the best-of-three National League wild-card series Tuesday afternoon.
After Michael Harris II singled and Ozzie Albies was hit by a pitch, Riley lifted the first pitch he saw from Phillies closer Jhoan Duran 385 feet to right-center, putting the Braves ahead with his sixth career postseason homer.
“It felt good, no doubt,” Riley said. “Just trying to get something over the plate. Duran is a really good pitcher. He’s got some really good stuff.”
Riley posted career lows in batting average (.219), on-base percentage (.290) and slugging percentage (.364) during the regular season, but the eight-year veteran put those struggles behind him with one swing.
“Everybody knows kind of how my season went; not the way I wanted it to,” Riley said. “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. It’s definitely a good start.”
Duran (0-1), who converted 33 of 35 save opportunities in the regular season, retired the first five batters he faced before yielding the Braves’ three-run uprising.
“Any time you lose a game late, obviously it’s frustrating,” said Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly. “But in our minds, we had our best guy out there. You live with this one.”
Braves closer Raisel Iglesias allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, but he induced a 6-4-3 double play by Bryan De La Cruz and ended the game with a Bryson Stott flyout to record the save.
Braves left-hander Dylan Lee (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless eighth.
Harris was 3-for-3 and scored two runs for Atlanta, which has a chance on Wednesday afternoon to clinch its first postseason series win since the 2021 World Series.
J.T. Realmuto delivered a two-out, two-run triple in the top of the seventh to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead. Alec Bohm contributed an RBI double for Philadelphia, which was held to six hits and went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Braves starter Chris Sale was in line for the loss as he allowed two baserunners in the seventh before Didier Fuentes surrendered Realmuto’s triple.
Making his first postseason start since 2021, Sale struck out a playoff career-high nine. He gave up three runs on four hits and walked one over 6 1/3 innings.
Phillies left-hander Jesus Luzardo — making his first start in three weeks after a late-season stint on the injured list due to shoulder inflammation — also delivered as the Game 1 starter. He allowed one run on three hits over five innings, striking out six and walking one.
Bohm gave the Phillies the lead four batters into the game when he doubled into the left center gap to bring home Kyle Schwarber, who had walked.
The Braves leveled the score in the second when Mike Yastrzemski rolled a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Albies after Mauricio Dubon’s leadoff double to left ignited the rally.
In the sixth, Atlanta took advantage of Luzardo’s exit. Albies’ RBI triple to right center off Alex McFarlane drove in Harris to forge a 2-1 lead.
–Curt Weiler, Field Level Media
