Braves place Austin Riley on 10-day injured list

“It was the slow roller on the (Pedro Pages) bunt (in the second inning Friday). Make that play all the time and just kind of felt the lower ab grab me a little bit,” Riley said of the injury. “Obviously continued to play and was hoping it would go away. It didn’t get any worse, but could feel it, especially the play on (Willson) Contreras, the ground ball, kinda grabbed me a little bit more.

“It’s a weird spot. I make that play all the time and never have any issues. Don’t know really what happened. Went through my normal routine of preparing and feel like I do a good job of making sure I’m ready, hydration, all that stuff. It’s weird.”

Alvarez, a California native, made his MLB debut last July, receiving his first promotion after Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies fractured his wrist. Alvarez played in eight games, went 3-for-30 at the plate, scored a run and struck out 10 times. He also had a fielding percentage of 1.000 in 20 chances.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

A wrist injury and oblique injury has limited Alvarez, wearing No. 67 and batting seventh Saturday, at Triple-A Gwinnett this season. He arrived in St. Louis after going 13-for-39 with a homer and five RBIs and 11 walks in 13 games with the Stripers.

Friday’s game in Indianapolis was Alvarez’s first in two weeks while he recovered from the oblique issue. He went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and was hit by a pitch before being pulled in the seventh inning.

Alvarez then got to St. Louis by car.

“We got over here pretty fast,” he said with a smile about the 3 1/2-hour trip. “It always feels good to be back here with familiar faces, you know? These guys are so welcoming, any questions I have they’re there for me. These guys are unbelievable human beings and hoping I can help these guys make a push.”

Riley’s injury is yet another ball thrown into the Braves roster juggling show. Starting pitchers Chris Sale, AJ Smith-Shawver, Spencer Schwellenbach and Reynaldo Lopez have all been shelved, right-fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. missed the early part of the season and starter Spencer Strider didn’t truly join the rotation until late May.

Left-fielder Jurickson Profar had to serve an 80-game suspension as well.

The lineup had finally started to look whole over recent days with the Braves having their full compliment of regulars in the starting nine. But the baseball gods had other plans for the immediate future.

“We just keep battling through things like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Saturday morning in the dugout at Busch Stadium. “We’ve done it for over a year now. I hate it for (Riley), too, because he’s swinging the bat pretty good. It’s just one of those things.”

On Saturday, the Braves also optioned right-hander pitcher Nathan Wiles to Gwinnett and activated Joey Wentz. Reliever Aaron Bummer was penciled in to start on the mound against the Cardinals at 2:15 p.m. Saturday.

Bummer also made a spot start July 5 and allowed three earned runs (and two homers) in 2 1/3 innings against the Orioles. He also gave up a walk-off hit against the Athletics on Thursday in the 11th inning.

“It was just kind of one of those things, he did it the other day or last week or whatever and I don’t know if there’s a right or a wrong way to go, but he has done it,” Snitker said. “We told him this morning, just get it off the ground. If he can go two innings, great, and anything above that’s a plus.”