Riley started week with toothache -- then started to find his swing

MIAMI -- Now that Austin Riley has created some encouragement by homering a couple times this week, should the Braves’ third baseman begin every week of the postseason by undergoing an emergency root canal?

“No, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy,” Riley said.

Riley’s bid to homer in a third straight game proved unsuccessful in a 3-0 loss to the Marlins on Friday night at loanDepot park. But having homered against the Reds on Wednesday and Thursday, it’s safe to say this week has progressed much better than it started.

An intense toothache woke Riley around 5 a.m. CT on Sunday in his Houston hotel. The Braves arranged for him to visit a dentist, who was unable to do the root canal because of staffing issues. After returning to Daikin Park, the two-time All-Star felt incredible pain after biting into a sandwich.

Braves head athletic trainer George Poulis then arranged for Riley to visit another dentist, who completed the root canal and sent the slugger back to the stadium in time to be with his teammates as they celebrated clinching the NL East.

“My face was half numb, but it was all good,” Riley said.

Unfortunately for Riley, he hasn’t been numb to the frustration he has felt while producing career lows in both batting average (.222) and OPS (.662). He’s also set a franchise single-season record with a career-high 197 strikeouts, two of which were registered as Eury Pérez dazzled the Braves with a one-hit shutout on Friday.

With four homers in his past 18 games, Riley needs to go deep just one time in the regular season’s final two games to secure a 20-homer season. That’s a satisfying number when you consider he hit just nine in the season’s first 95 games. But this is a guy who tallied three straight 30-homer seasons from 2021-23.

“I don’t even look at [the stats] anymore,” Riley said. “At this point, it’s about, ‘What can I do today, and what can I do going forward?’”

When the Braves begin the Wild Card Series on Tuesday at Truist Park, Riley will be working with a new slate. If he gets hot and helps Atlanta advance deep into the postseason, he can distance himself from what he has done over the past six months.

“Austin's great,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “You never know if he's had an MVP season or if he's struggling. He’s the same guy. I know, obviously, he's been working really hard all year to try to turn things around, and I think he's trending the right way.”

Riley has been far more productive during the season’s second half. But the strikeout rate has been more alarming.

Pre-All-Star break: .207 BA, 9 HRs (38.1 At-bats per homer), .618 OPS, 29.4% strikeout rate
Post-AS break: .247 BA, 10 HRs (21.5 AB/HR), .734 OPS, 35.6% K rate
September: .222 BA, 4 HRs (18 AB/HR) .695 OPS, 32.9% K rate

Burdened by an abundance of video analysis and analytical data, Riley has been looking to simplify both his swing and his mindset. He knows he has looked robotic with many of his swings this year. But he feels good about an adjustment he made last weekend, when he noticed his right shoulder seemed to be tense and pointed inward with his stance.

Riley has spent the past few games focused on keeping that shoulder loose, with the hope he reduces the frequency with which he has pushed the bat through the zone or flipped the bat through the zone. His aim has been to make his swing look more natural.

“I definitely think this is the most confident I’ve been in a while with some of [the] cues and with some of the swings I’ve taken,” Riley said.