Riley hopes luck beginning to turn for Braves' top sluggers

SEATTLE -- When Austin Riley was slumping over April’s final weeks last season, it was playfully suggested that a big country boy like him didn’t need to be eating avocado toast, his breakfast choice at a San Diego restaurant last year.

Riley started rolling as May progressed. So, as the third baseman exited T-Mobile Park on Tuesday night, he playfully asked if it was time to start eating avocado toast again.

Riley didn’t feel convicted enough to go back to the toast, but he still started to distance himself from some bad luck as he tallied a pair of hits, including a two-run triple, in a 5-2 win over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon. The victory backed Chris Sale’s five solid innings and allowed the Braves to avoid a three-game sweep.

“He’s been swinging the bat probably as well as anybody, but had nothing to show for it,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Riley fueled a four-run fourth inning with an opposite-field triple that eluded Seattle right fielder Mitch Haniger as he slammed into the right-field wall. His line-drive single in the third was just out of shortstop Dylan Moore’s reach. It helped move Ronald Acuña Jr. in position to score when Marcell Ozuna drew a bases-loaded walk off Emerson Hancock.

“That first one, I was praying Moore wasn’t going to snag it, and the same with the one at the wall in right field,” Riley said. “Both of them fell, and I was able to get some steaks with it.”

This was just Riley’s second multi-hit game since April 11. He entered this series finale hitting .226 with two home runs, a .664 OPS and some expected statistics that indicated he was on the verge of turning things around.

“There’s only so long you can do the right things and not get rewarded,” Sale said.

This still wasn’t close to the actual .525 slugging percentage he compiled over his past three seasons, each of which consisted of 30-plus home runs. Riley exited April with a .365 slugging percentage, but his expected slugging percentage -- which is based on exit velocity and launch angle -- was .443.

This was one of the numbers that indicated Riley was hindered by some bad luck over the past month. His third-inning single came off his bat at 108.9 mph, and his triple had an exit velocity of 102.7. Both were barrels, which are batted-ball events whose comparable hit types (in terms of exit velocity and launch angle) have led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage since Statcast was implemented Major League-wide in 2015.

Riley entered Wednesday hitting just .364 (4-for-11) with a 1.091 slugging percentage on balls he barreled this year. This simply means he was due to begin benefiting from the law of averages.

“I’m a big believer in control what you can control and once the ball leaves the bat, there’s nothing you can do,” Riley said.

Riley, Acuña and Matt Olson all finished among the top seven in National League MVP balloting last year. The Braves own MLB’s top winning percentage (.690) despite the fact that each of these prime producers has experienced a slow start.

Acuña's strikeout rate rose to 27.9 percent after he struck out three more times on Wednesday. The reigning NL MVP incredibly struck out just 11.4 percent of the time while hitting 41 homers. He has homered just once while tallying a .690 OPS this year.

But he aided Wednesday’s win with a couple of singles, including one ahead of Riley’s triple and Olson’s single in the fourth.

Acuña entered Wednesday with a .245 batting average and .253 expected batting average (xBA). He also had a .318 slugging percentage and a .372 expected slugging percentage (xSLG).

Olson’s numbers suggest his lack of early production has been even more deceiving. Olson came into the series finale hitting .202 with a .252 xBA. He was slugging .385 with a .478 xSLG. In other words, the tide might also start turning for him, too.

“A lot of guys have been picking us up over the last month,” Riley said. “To finally get together and have a really good inning like that, that’s encouraging. If we can get going and the guys are doing their thing, I like where we will be.”