Austin Riley ended his 18-game homerless streak by driving a 400-foot homer in the Atlanta Braves’ 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Tuesday night. He added an opposite-field double, giving the Braves a jolt in a game they needed to keep their early-season momentum moving.
The Braves improved to 12-7 and remained the major leagues’ highest-scoring team with 106 runs, a pace that has covered for some uneven starts from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II. Riley’s return to form matters because the Braves have not been at full strength, and the lineup could get even deeper if Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim make it back from injury.
For Atlanta, Riley’s night was more than a single breakout. The Braves have been good enough to lead the sport in runs even while key hitters have been slow, and that leaves room for the kind of revival Riley showed against Miami to become a turning point. If he keeps producing, the lineup around him gets harder to pitch to, and the Braves only become more dangerous.
The concern is that the rest of the offense has not all moved in step. Acuña and Harris have struggled, and the Braves are still waiting on Murphy and Kim to return, which means Riley’s surge may have to carry more than one night’s work. But with a 12-7 record and a batting order that can still add power, Atlanta looks like a club that may be waiting for its offense to catch up to its start.
