Braves Briefing: Austin Riley had himself a NIGHT against the Diamondbacks

Austin Riley's been pressing at the plate.

That's not my opinion; ask hitting coach Kevin Seitzer.

As he said to David O'Brien of The Athletic, "He’s trying too hard. Forcing things a little bit. It happens when a team’s going good and you’re not, and you try and force results. He’s chasing results right now, just trying to do a little too much."

And the effects of that are clear in his stats: .221 in his last 30 games entering last night, and .167 in his last ten games.

Well, he might have fixed it in the series opener: Riley went 3-5 with a double, two big homeruns, and a career-high seven RBIs. He also made a fantastic defensive play to hold a lead in the 8th, fielding a hot shot down the line and making a timely throw to home to get the uber-speedy Corbin Carroll, running on contact.

Let's hope that he's fixed the paralysis by analysis that was plaguing him to this point and he's back to the MVP candidate Riley that we all know and love.

NL East Standings

I'm reminded of something we wrote a few weeks ago: The Atlanta Braves biggest threat to winning the NL East isn't the Marlins, it's the Phillies

Team	Record	Games Back	Action Today
Atlanta	61-32	--	vs Diamondbacks
Philadelphia	52-42	9.5	vs Brewers
Miami	53-44	10.0	@ Cardinals
NY Mets	44-50	17.5	vs White Sox
Washington	38-57	24.0	@ Cubs

We Wrote It

Our Noah Griffith has been on Ronald Acuña Jr stolen base watch and last night was big:

With his 44th stolen base in the sixth inning of tonight’s shootout with the Diamondbacks, Ronald Acuña has taken the MLB lead in stolen bases.
He’s already surpassed his previous career high, he’s bested last year’s major-league best 41 steals in the entire 2022 season and now Atlanta’s All-Star has zoomed past Esteury Ruiz to take the league lead for the first time this year.

Read the whole thing HERE

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday, July 19th

Game two of the series is on Wednesday evening, with Charlie Morton facing off against Arizona's Ryne Nelson. First pitch is set for 7:20 PM ET from Truist Park. The game broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

Check out Braves Today on Socials!
Follow Braves Today on Twitter!Like Braves Today on Facebook!Check out the homepage for more Atlanta Braves News!Subscribe to Braves Today on YouTube!Get Exclusive Braves Merchandise from FOCO