Braves escape Baltimore with wild extra-inning win

“Other than the first game, the whole series it seemed like they (the Orioles) were working away, away, away,” Riley said of his winning hit. “Finally made an adjustment, let the ball get deep. (Orioles reliever Andrew Kittredge) went up with the slider, the first pitch up, and just stuck with my approach.

“Especially a guy on second, nobody out, it’s like, ‘Man, I got to figure out a way to get him over.’ And was able to, and a little bit more. So that was nice to finally make that adjustment.”

Riley’s game-winner came after the Braves were two outs away, perhaps just one play away, from winning two innings prior.

Closer Raisel Iglesias began the ninth, with his team leading 2-1, by walking the leadoff hitter. Then, after a strikeout, Iglesias got a potential double-play ball off the bat of Leody Tavares — but second baseman Ozzie Albies, typically as sure-handed as they come, let the ball roll through his legs into right field.

Pinch-runner Coby Mayo went all the way to third, then scored to tie the game on Jackson Holliday’s groundout to second, a groundout that Albies dove to his left to stop and, momentarily, save the game.

“I said this (Saturday) night, when we were talking about (shortstop Jim) Jarvis, if you’re in this league long enough, tough things are going to happen to you,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It’s a tough league and it’s a really difficult game. So nobody’s immune from it. But (Albies) shows what he’s made of there, coming back and making that diving play.”

The Braves had runners on first and second and nobody out in the 10th only to have Michael Harris II pop up to shortstop, Mauricio Dubón foul out to first and Dominic Smith fly out to center field.

Starting the bottom of the 10th, with a runner on second, left-hander Danny Young walked Dylan Beavers — who was trying to bunt — and then Pete Alonso was intentionally walked. With the infield drawn-in and the bases now loaded, and with Dubón brought in from left field as an extra infielder, Gunnar Henderson ripped a line-drive to first base that Olson snared before stepping on the bag for a double play.

Tyler Kinley came in to face the right-handed Taylor Ward and got Ward to pop up a 3-1 pitch to Olson at first.

“Game on the line like that, but you gotta be on offense, you gotta attack, and you gotta trust your stuff,” Kinley said. “We got great defense. (Olson) made a good play on a pretty deep fly ball, for an infielder, in right field.”

After Riley put the Braves in front in the top half of the inning, Kinley (6-4) got two easy outs to start the 11th, then walked a pair (one intentional) before getting Sam Huff to roll out to third.

“I get it,” Kinley said of having to intentionally walk the left-handed hitting Holliday to load the bases. “I mean, you got to earn the right to face guys in this league, right? And I haven’t earned my right with a lot of lefties lately. So the easy move there is to him on, let me go attack the righty. I didn’t second guess it at all. I think (Weiss) is fully prepared with the decisions he made, and I just wanted to back him up on that.”

Hours before the late-game chaos, Braves starter Reynaldo López went 5⅔ scoreless innings, his longest outing since March 28 (the second game of the season) and struck out six. His fastball only averaged 92 mph, and he only got five whiffs on 41 swings, but 15 of his 56 strikes were called strikes and 10 of the 17 outs he recorded were harmless fly balls.

In his previous two starts, López had allowed nine earned runs on 14 hits over 9⅓ innings.

After López got the first two outs of the sixth and then gave up a slow-rolling single to Christian Encarnacion-Strand, lefty Dylan Dodd came in and got the final out of the sixth before pitching a 1-2-3 seventh.

Dylan Lee followed and gave up a solo home run to Pete Alonso with one out in the eighth, a 419-foot shot to left on an 0-2 slider. It was Alonso’s 22nd homer of the season.

That run proved to be crucial ahead of the chaotic final innings.

Harris led off the second inning by lining the first pitch from Orioles starter Shane Baz into center field for a base hit. Harris went to second when center fielder Colton Cowser bobbled the ball, then to third on Dubón’s fly out to deep center.

Smith slapped an RBI single to down the third-base line giving the Braves the lead. It was the 39th time this season the Braves have scored first on their opponent.

Smith put the Braves ahead 2-0 in the fourth when his two-out, two-strike single to left scored Matt Olson from third. Left fielder Cowser just missed making a diving, run-saving catch.

It was the ninth multi-RBI game of the season for Smith and he now has 40 for the season, his most since driving in 46 for the Nationals in 2023.

Baz, after throwing 90 pitches, was lifted after a one-out walked to Drake Baldwin in the fifth. Of the two runs Baz allowed, only one was earned, and the righty navigated around two walks and six hits.

The Braves left Baltimore on Sunday evening to head to New York to face the Mets for three games, a series that starts Monday. The Braves go in having won their first three series after the All-Star break.

“Yeah, a lot of confidence,” Riley said of the club’s mindset. “That’s all you can do is try to win series, take it day by day. Three in a row, that’s huge.”