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Braves’ Austin Riley leaves Speedway Classic with injury after diving play
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- Braves’ Austin Riley leaves Speedway Classic with injury after diving play
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The post Braves' Austin Riley leaves Speedway Classic with injury after diving play appeared first on ClutchPoints .
The Atlanta Braves and the Cincinnati Reds were going at it in the Speedway Classic on Sunday after the rain cut Saturday night's main event short. The two teams picked things back up on Sunday morning with almost the full game to play, but a damper was put on things on the Atlanta side pretty quickly.
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During the first inning, star Braves third baseman Austin Riley caught Elly De La Cruz in a pickle before chasing him down and diving to tag him out just before crossing home plate. However, at the end of the play, Riley seemed to be in some pain in his abdominal area.
Riley has already dealt with abdominal injuries this season, so this play would have certainly given Braves fans some bad flashbacks. As it turns out, their worst fears may have come true. Riley was removed from the game in the third inning before his second plate appearance and replaced by Luke Williams .
The two-time All-Star already spent nearly two weeks in July on the injured list with an abdominal injury, and this appears to be a re-aggravation of that at best. If it is a similar injury, or much less a worse one, he will likely have to spend more time on the injured list in the coming weeks.
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Riley is hiring .260 on the season with 16 home runs and 54 RBI in 101 games coming into the Speedway Classic, so he will leave a massive hole in the middle of the Atlanta lineup if he is forced to miss time.
The Braves have had a disastrous season when it comes to injuries this season, and Riley's struggles are just the latest addition to that. Their top six starting pitchers have all been forced to miss time at some point due to injury, and star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. was also recently banged up after starting the season late due to his recovery from a torn ACL.
The Braves ended up getting a win on Sunday, 4-2, but it may be a costly one. Taking Riley out of the lineup on top of all of that would make it even more unlikely that the Braves can make a miracle run during the final few months of the season and get into the playoffs.
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