ATLANTA (AP) — Austin Riley knows one win by Atlanta in six games against the Los Angeles Dodgers doesn't give the Braves a claim to challenge the team with baseball's best record.
Even so, avoiding a season sweep with Sunday night's 4-3 win over the Dodgers was important for the Braves and their morale.
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Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (27) celebrates after hitting a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) hits a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) celebrates his two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
“It's huge,” said Riley, who powered the Braves by hitting a pair of two-run homers for an early 4-0 lead.
“I think this is a really good ballclub here," he added. "We've shown it at times and we've struggled at times. I think it's something you can build off of to get that confidence, knowing that we can compete with the best, and go from there.”
The Braves opened the season with seven consecutive losses, a stretch that was capped by three losses in Los Angeles. They have remained under .500, though they climbed close at 14-15 before another three-game skid that included losses to the Dodgers in the first two games of the weekend series, including a 10-3 defeat on Saturday night that gave Los Angeles a seven-game winning streak and the best record in the majors at 23-10.
Including losses in their last two games against the Dodgers in 2024, the Braves had lost seven straight in the series. That's why avoiding the sweep of the season series was important.
“I think it’s big when you win a game like this,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker. “It’s like you know what, we’re pretty good, too. I think the club can take something away from that. We didn’t win the series, but it’s a big win for us. It shows us we can play, that we’re a good team, too.”
Riley is hitting .292 and leads the Braves with eight homers and 24 RBIs.
Riley, Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson and other Atlanta hitters are awaiting the return of outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. as early as this month as he continues to recover from last year's ACL surgery on his left knee.
Acuña was hurt after 49 games last season. He won the National League MVP in 2023 with 41 home runs, 73 steals and a .337 batting average.
When asked how the top of Atlanta's lineup would compare with the Dodgers' top four of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández when Acuña returns to the leadoff spot, Snitker said: “We're right there.”
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Atlanta Braves third baseman Austin Riley (27) celebrates after hitting a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) hits a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) celebrates his two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley (27) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
