ANAHEIM — The Braves got another well-pitched game from Charlie Morton and three relievers Sunday in a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Angels, securing a much-needed series win and completing a 6-4 trip that began dismally in Colorado but yielded far more encouraging results with five wins in seven games at San Francisco and Anaheim.
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But in this most tumultuous of seasons for the Braves, when their fans increasingly feel like they just can’t have nice things, clubhouse reactions after an otherwise positive outcome Sunday were tempered by the uncertain status of Austin Riley’s right wrist after being hit by a 97 mph fastball in the first inning.
Yes, another potentially significant injury to a key Braves player in a season in which it seems more have been hurt than have not.
“All the tests that he had here were inconclusive,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said after Riley had X-rays at Angel Stadium and further tests at a nearby clinic. “So we’re just going to have to wait until (Monday) and get him to our people, have him run through the CT (scan) and all that kind of stuff when we get home.”
Did that mean the X-rays showed nothing?
“They were inconclusive,” Snitker answered. “So, like I say, until we get him home with our people and the things, we won’t know. … It swelled up, and it’s sore. But we’ve just got to have all the tests done, then we’ll find out tomorrow.”
Snitker added, “Anytime you’re getting hitting (in the hand) with all them little bones and everything like that, it’s a shame.”
Austin Riley has been removed from today's game after getting hit by this pitch. pic.twitter.com/uRoiOKSjuw
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Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz hit Riley, one day after catcher Travis d’Arnaud was hit just above the wrist by reliever José Cisnero. X-rays were negative on d’Arnaud but he was still sore and unavailable Sunday. The Braves are off Monday before a home series against the NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies, who lead the second-place Braves by seven games.
“You’ve got a hard-thrower on the mound and the ball’s coming up and in, you just don’t want to see that ever,” Morton said of Riley getting hit. “I don’t think anybody wanted to see that. So, hopefully, he’s all right.”
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Morton is coming around at a good time
The 40-year-old Morton faced one batter over the minimum through four innings and didn’t allow a hit until Brandon Drury’s leadoff single in the fifth. That was followed by a walk and another single before Morton, the active leader in hit batters, plunked Mickey Moniak with a back-foot breaking ball with bases loaded to reduce the Braves’ lead to 2-1.
But with the bases still juiced and the game potentially in the balance, Morton worked out of the jam by inducing a popup from Michael Stefanic and a double-play grounder by Taylor Ward.
After alternating good starts with bad ones for much of the season, Morton could be finding his stride at an opportune time for the Braves. He’s pitched well in three of his past four starts, interrupted by his season-worst clunker on Aug. 8 against Milwaukee (2 2/3 innings, nine hits, eight runs, four homers).
In the other three of his past four games — team wins at home against the Marlins and on the road against the Giants and Angels — Morton is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA. He has allowed three earned runs, 13 hits and four walks with 21 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings, and only one homer in those three games.
“I thought in San Francisco and today, my arm was working well, stuff was good, starting to see some of the swing-and-miss that I usually have,” said Morton, who had 15 strikeouts with three walks in 11 1/3 innings of those two starts. “Later swings on the heater, for the most part. The past couple I felt kind of like myself again.”
With Max Fried trying to regain form after a stint on the injury list, and fellow All-Star Reynaldo López set to return Tuesday after showing signs of fatigue before his IL stint for forearm tightness, the Braves need another starter or two to pick up some of the load.
Too much of that lately has been shouldered by Cy Young Award frontrunner Chris Sale, who’s been sensational, and rookie sensation Spencer Schwellenbach, who’s in his first full pro season and already well past his previous innings high.
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For Morton, two hits Sunday were the fewest he allowed since surrendering one in six scoreless innings on June 2 against Oakland. But he had five walks in that game, and it was also against an Athletics team that was in a 40-game stretch in which they went 9-31 and posted a .292 OBP while averaging 10 strikeouts per game.
The Angels were a respectable 12-13 in their past 25 games before Sunday, averaging just over four runs with a .320 OBP. Not world-beaters at all, but superior to what the A’s were in June. (Oakland has played much better in recent weeks.)
“I guess the important thing is the look forward,” Morton said of his and the Braves’ trip. “Like, you can’t really hang your hat on it, and try not to let the bad ones get you down. And then you just try to look to tomorrow and the next one. Obviously we’ve got an off day tomorrow, which is nice. I think we’re doing a pretty good job of not letting each day get us too high or too low, and hopefully we can get some momentum and keep going.”
Painful season for Riley and Braves
The Braves hope this is not the second significant injury for Riley, who missed two weeks after straining a side muscle in May. He was just 4-for-27 with one homer and one RBI in the past six games before Sunday, but over the past 13 games he had three doubles, four homers, nine RBIs and an .838 OPS.
He’s third on the team in homers with 19, behind Marcell Ozuna (36) and Matt Olson (21). No other Brave has more than 13.
Riley also is third among Braves in RBIs with 56, behind NL leader Ozuna (93) and Olson (63). Ozzie Albies is fourth at 46 despite being on the IL for the past four weeks and having missed more than 30 games this season with injuries. It’s been that kind of season. Slumps and injuries galore.
The inventory of Braves injuries is staggering, beginning with losing preseason Cy Young Award favorite Spencer Strider to elbow surgery after just two starts, and reigning MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. to a season-ending knee injury on May 26.
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Catcher Sean Murphy strained an oblique on Opening Day and missed two months; center fielder Michael Harris II returned from the 60-day IL last week after missing two months with a hamstring strain; reliever A.J. Minter is having hip surgery this week, plus the López and Fried injuries, among others.
Coincidentally, the injuries to Acuña, Albies, López and Riley (both times) occurred during Sunday series finales, and Acuña and Riley (both times) were injured in the top of the first inning of road games. All those injuries were Sunday afternoon games except Riley’s previous injury on May 12 against the Mets, which was switched to a night game for ESPN.
Erratic offense
The Braves scored 35 runs combined in three games on this trip, with one double-digit scoring game in each of the three series. This after they had scored 10 or more runs just once previously this season.
They had four homers in an 11-8 win at Colorado in the second game of the trip, four homers in a 13-2 win at San Francisco on Wednesday, and three homers in Saturday’s 11-3 win against the Angels. The problem for the Braves is that if they’re not hitting homers, they usually aren’t scoring many runs, because manufacturing runs is not a team strength. At all.
Until they went 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position in Saturday’s rout, the Braves had hit just .220 in those situations since May 1, the fourth-lowest average in the majors with runners in scoring position in that span. They reverted to form Sunday, going 1-for-8 in RISP situations, but did also have an important sacrifice fly from Jarred Kelenic in the eighth to push the lead to 3-1.
(Photo of Charlie Morton: John McCoy / Getty Images)
David O'Brien is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL
