Riley and Braves receive morale boost from long-awaited 1st win of season against powerful Dodgers

ATLANTA (AP) - Austin Riley knows one win by Atlanta in six games against the Los Angeles Dodgers doesn’t give the Braves a claim to challenge the team with baseball’s best record.

Even so, avoiding a season sweep with Sunday night’s 4-3 win over the Dodgers was important for the Braves and their morale.

"It’s huge," said Riley, who powered the Braves by hitting a pair of two-run homers for an early 4-0 lead.

"I think this is a really good ballclub here,” he added. “We’ve shown it at times and we’ve struggled at times. I think it’s something you can build off of to get that confidence, knowing that we can compete with the best, and go from there."

The Braves opened the season with seven consecutive losses, a stretch that was capped by three losses in Los Angeles. They have remained under .500, though they climbed close at 14-15 before another three-game skid that included losses to the Dodgers in the first two games of the weekend series, including a 10-3 defeat on Saturday night that gave Los Angeles a seven-game winning streak and the best record in the majors at 23-10.

Including losses in their last two games against the Dodgers in 2024, the Braves had lost seven straight in the series. That’s why avoiding the sweep of the season series was important.

"I think it's big when you win a game like this," said Braves manager Brian Snitker. "It's like you know what, we're pretty good, too. I think the club can take something away from that. We didn't win the series, but it's a big win for us. It shows us we can play, that we're a good team, too."

Riley is hitting .292 and leads the Braves with eight homers and 24 RBIs.

Riley, Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson and other Atlanta hitters are awaiting the return of outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. as early as this month as he continues to recover from last year’s ACL surgery on his left knee.

Acuña was hurt after 49 games last season. He won the National League MVP in 2023 with 41 home runs, 73 steals and a .337 batting average.

When asked how the top of Atlanta’s lineup would compare with the Dodgers’ top four of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández when Acuña returns to the leadoff spot, Snitker said: "We’re right there."