Another stint on the injured list seemed inevitable for Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley after he left Sunday’s MLB Speedway Classic with lower abdominal pain. That was confirmed with the team announcing that Riley is back on the IL with a strained lower abdominal muscle.
Riley sustained the injury during the first inning while stretching to tag out Cincinnati Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz at home plate. He stayed on his knees after the play, indicating that he hurt himself and left the game.
The third baseman recently returned from the IL on July 25 to recover from a lower abdominal strain, so it’s possible that he re-aggravated that injury while tagging out De La Cruz.
Playing 102 games this season, Riley is batting .260/.309/.428 with 16 home runs, 20 doubles and 54 RBI in 447 plate appearances. In seven MLB seasons, he has a .270/.334/.492 slash average with 168 doubles, 169 homers and 483 RBI in 821 games.
To replace him on the active roster and at third base, the Braves called up Nacho Alvarez Jr. from Triple-A Gwinnett. In an earlier stint with Atlanta, Alvarez hit .200/.250/.233 in eight games.
Atlanta also demoted outfielder Jarred Kelenic to Triple-A for the second time this season. Kelenic, 26, has spent most of this season in the minors, batting .218/.289/.321 with four home runs and 23 RBI with Gwinnett. With the Braves, he hit .161/.231/.300 in 65 plate appearances.
The Braves are fourth in the NL East going into Monday’s play at 47-63, 15.5 games behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies. Losing seven of its past 10 games, Atlanta is also 14 games from the NL’s third wild-card playoff berth.
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