Austin Riley awakens and Chris Sale rolls as Braves down Rays, 7-3

Braves use early offensive onslaught and the outstanding Chris Sale to take down Tampa/

After a rough road trip, the Braves used a big game from Austin Riley and a tremendous start from Chris Sale to win their second game in a row, and take down the Rays 7-3 Friday night at Truist Park.

Despite how well it ended going, it was actually an ominous beginning to the evening for the Braves. The top of the first innings started with Sale giving up a lead-off single to Yandy Diaz, a hit-by-pitch to Randy Arozarena, and an RBI double from Amed Rosario to give Tampa an early 1-0 lead. Sale was able to limit the damage by getting a line-out and back-to-back strikeouts to end the innings.

And then the fun started.

Atlanta came to plate in the bottom of the first, and did their best 2023 Braves impersonation. Michael Harris started things with a line-drive single to left, followed by a double from Ozzie Albies to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Marcell Ozuna then came up and launched a 3-run homer to right field to give Atlanta a 3-1 lead.

The Braves weren’t done though. Matt Olson followed Ozuna’s homer with double to right and Austin Riley followed him by roping his own double down the left-field line to make it 4-1 Braves. Riley came around to score the 5th run of the inning when Rays pitcher Zack Littell made an errant throw to first on an Adam Duvall grounder and Atlanta had an early 5-1 lead.

The only negative for Atlanta in the inning was Michael Harris having to leave the game with left hamstring tightness while running the bases. JP Martinez replaced him at the top of the order.

After a shutdown inning from Sale in the second, the offense went right back to work. Ozuna walked with 1 out in the second and two batters later, Riley launched a ball to the moon for a 2-run homer and busted the game wide open, giving Atlanta a 7-1 lead.

From there, it was the Chris Sale show. Sale pitched a scoreless 3rd, a scoreless 4th, a scoreless 5th, and a scoreless 6th, facing one over the minimum and striking out three over that stretch. The only other damage against him was when Jose Siri lead-off the 7th with a double to right, and came in to score on a 2-out, 0-2 double from Richie Palacios. Sale finished his outing with 7 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 7 strikeouts and 2 walks. His season ERA now sits a 2.98.

Jesse Chavez pitched a scoreless 8th and Dylan Lee gave up a run in the 9th and enough baserunners where Rasiel Iglesias needed to come in to close it out. But all order was restored and the Braves finished off a 7-3 win for their second win in a row. The last two games marks the first time Atlanta has scored 5 or more runs in consecutive games since April 19th and April 20th against Texas.

Atlanta moves to 37-30 with the win, while Tampa falls to 33-37. Braves look to win the series tomorrow afternoon with Charlie Morton taking on Ryan Pepiot of the Rays at Truist Park. The game starts at 4:10 pm ET.