ATLANTA — Austin Riley hit a mammoth home run. Then he hit another, to almost the same spot.
“I don’t think I’ve ever hit one that far in my life,” teammate Travis d’Arnaud marveled. “He did it twice.”
Riley’s two long homers and d’Arnaud’s pinch-hit, two-run single in the eighth inning carried the Atlanta Braves to an 8-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
D’Arnaud, sent up for slumping Michael Harris II with the bases loaded, lined a one-out single to left field off Gregory Soto (1-4) to break a 5-all tie. Matt Olson added a sacrifice fly.
In the first meeting between the National League East Division rivals since the Phillies’ upset victory in an NL Division Series last fall, both teams displayed plenty of power to open a four-game set at Truist Park.