<img alt="Atlanta Braves v New York Mets" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mox8BtFhj4DCB2DAkWlGoSHlol8=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73486292/2163313960.0.jpg">
Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images
The Braves hit three homers and Spencer Schwellenbach was amazeballs in a 4-0 win. Well, that’s one way to stop a six-game skid without any kind of tactical intervention: just have your rookie pitcher absolutely dominate MLB’s best offense so far this summer, and hit a few homers in the process.
Yes, Spencer Schwellenbach was amazing today. In his last start, he had an 8/0 K/BB ratio but was tagged for three homers. This time, he kept up the torrid strikeout pace and then some, with 11 strikeouts across seven innings of work. It was such a dominant performance that it’s somewhat hard to describe it and do it justice: Schwellenbach pounded the zone, didn’t get horribly punished on his few hangers, and unleashed devastating sliders and 96+ mph fastballs that had Mets hitters looking like... well... the bottom of the Braves’ lineup in recent days.
For a while, nothing really happened in this one, as the Braves had as much trouble with Mets starter Tylor Megill, recalled from Triple-A for this start, as the Mets had with Schwellenbach. After ten straight outs to start the game, Jeff McNeil got a middle-middle cutter and whacked it into right for a barreled double. However, Schwellenbach was easily able to strand him with a strikeout and a weak bouncer to first. The Braves had two hard lineouts against Megill in the third, but only managed to break through with two outs in the fourth. First, Marcell Ozuna got the hangiest of sliders and destroyed it into left-center. Then, Matt Olson did something pretty weird: hit a line drive homer to left-center on an 0-2 splitter. The ball barely cleared the fence, but hey, back-to-back homers. Adam Duvall followed those up with a soft tapper infield single, but the Braves wouldn’t score any more in that frame.
Schwellenbach worked around a two-out double by Pete Alonso in the bottom of the inning, and the Braves tacked on another run in the fifth thanks to a leadoff walk, a groundout moving the runner to second, and Orlando Arcia’s hard-hit liner over third.
By that point, it had already become the Schwellenbach show. From the second through the fifth inning, he struck out two batters in each. The strikeout pitches themselves were wild: slider down, slider down, fastball in zone, splitter down, slider down, slider down the middle looking, slider down, slider high in zone, fastball in zone, fastball in zone.
Eddie Rosario got in on the fun with a solo homer off Megill in the seventh, and a walk to Murphy ended the hurler’s day. The Braves then did nothing against former Brave Danny Young and Alex Young (no relation, probably), who had a hit by pitch, a walk, a double, and seven strikeouts of Braves hitters in 2 2⁄3 innings of work. But, by that point, the Braves were basically rolling. Schwellenbach collected his 11th and final strikeout of the game by bamboozling J.D. Martinez with a 2-2 fastball down the middle, his third time punching out the guy who hit a grand slam off Charlie Morton yesterday. Joe Jimenez worked a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it eight-pitch eighth, and despite a couple of bloop hits and a deep drive to left by Francisco Lindor, Raisel Iglesias slammed the door while also striking out Martinez (again).
Spencer Schwellenbach’s emergence is a pretty cool thing to happen in a fun-sucking season for the Braves. If he can do this to the Mets, who have been killing the ball all summer, well, imagine what he could do over the arc of his career. Get him and the boys some help, Front Office!
The Braves are (perhaps temporarily) back in possession of the top Wild Card spot, but have another date with the Mets tomorrow. The Padres already won, so the Braves will need to start rolling to avoid sliding down into the pit of despair.
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v New York Mets" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Mox8BtFhj4DCB2DAkWlGoSHlol8=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73486292/2163313960.0.jpg">
Photo by Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images
The Braves hit three homers and Spencer Schwellenbach was amazeballs in a 4-0 win. Well, that’s one way to stop a six-game skid without any kind of tactical intervention: just have your rookie pitcher absolutely dominate MLB’s best offense so far this summer, and hit a few homers in the process.
Yes, Spencer Schwellenbach was amazing today. In his last start, he had an 8/0 K/BB ratio but was tagged for three homers. This time, he kept up the torrid strikeout pace and then some, with 11 strikeouts across seven innings of work. It was such a dominant performance that it’s somewhat hard to describe it and do it justice: Schwellenbach pounded the zone, didn’t get horribly punished on his few hangers, and unleashed devastating sliders and 96+ mph fastballs that had Mets hitters looking like... well... the bottom of the Braves’ lineup in recent days.
For a while, nothing really happened in this one, as the Braves had as much trouble with Mets starter Tylor Megill, recalled from Triple-A for this start, as the Mets had with Schwellenbach. After ten straight outs to start the game, Jeff McNeil got a middle-middle cutter and whacked it into right for a barreled double. However, Schwellenbach was easily able to strand him with a strikeout and a weak bouncer to first. The Braves had two hard lineouts against Megill in the third, but only managed to break through with two outs in the fourth. First, Marcell Ozuna got the hangiest of sliders and destroyed it into left-center. Then, Matt Olson did something pretty weird: hit a line drive homer to left-center on an 0-2 splitter. The ball barely cleared the fence, but hey, back-to-back homers. Adam Duvall followed those up with a soft tapper infield single, but the Braves wouldn’t score any more in that frame.
Schwellenbach worked around a two-out double by Pete Alonso in the bottom of the inning, and the Braves tacked on another run in the fifth thanks to a leadoff walk, a groundout moving the runner to second, and Orlando Arcia’s hard-hit liner over third.
By that point, it had already become the Schwellenbach show. From the second through the fifth inning, he struck out two batters in each. The strikeout pitches themselves were wild: slider down, slider down, fastball in zone, splitter down, slider down, slider down the middle looking, slider down, slider high in zone, fastball in zone, fastball in zone.
Eddie Rosario got in on the fun with a solo homer off Megill in the seventh, and a walk to Murphy ended the hurler’s day. The Braves then did nothing against former Brave Danny Young and Alex Young (no relation, probably), who had a hit by pitch, a walk, a double, and seven strikeouts of Braves hitters in 2 2⁄3 innings of work. But, by that point, the Braves were basically rolling. Schwellenbach collected his 11th and final strikeout of the game by bamboozling J.D. Martinez with a 2-2 fastball down the middle, his third time punching out the guy who hit a grand slam off Charlie Morton yesterday. Joe Jimenez worked a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it eight-pitch eighth, and despite a couple of bloop hits and a deep drive to left by Francisco Lindor, Raisel Iglesias slammed the door while also striking out Martinez (again).
Spencer Schwellenbach’s emergence is a pretty cool thing to happen in a fun-sucking season for the Braves. If he can do this to the Mets, who have been killing the ball all summer, well, imagine what he could do over the arc of his career. Get him and the boys some help, Front Office!
The Braves are (perhaps temporarily) back in possession of the top Wild Card spot, but have another date with the Mets tomorrow. The Padres already won, so the Braves will need to start rolling to avoid sliding down into the pit of despair.
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