Atlanta Braves right-hander Spencer Strider was back on the mound at Truist Park for a regular season game Tuesday night for the first time since suffering his season-ending elbow injury last April. Ironically, Strider was facing the same team he did 14 months ago — the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Unfortunately for Strider, the outing didn’t go anywhere near as well as he likely hoped.
Strider tossed up three home runs, which tied a career high, including two against Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte. Overall, Strider yielded five runs on six hits and two walks while striking out four in five innings.
He fell to 0-4 this season while the Braves suffered their ninth defeat in 12 games.
Strider allowed his first homer in the opening frame, which immediately put the struggling Braves offense in a hole.
“I just didn’t think anything was very consistent. Inning to inning, stuff didn’t move the same. Had spurts of good command. Despite giving up so many hits, I thought I was pretty efficient for the first half,” Strider said. “But, I’ve said before, command without stuff is batting practice. So that’s about what I offered up today.
“Gotta be better. Gotta move better. Just didn’t give us a chance. All of my starts, I’ve given up the lead or given up the first runs of the game, so just put our guys behind. Just another added pressure for them. Obviously, I hate doing that.”
The first-inning homer from Marte came against an 0-2 change-up which Strider left over the middle of the plate. Marte’s second homer was on a 3-0 fastball.
Marte is now 5-for-11 with three home runs and a walk versus Strider in his career.
“The 0-2 pitch to Marte was just a ridiculous mistake that I can’t make in an 0-2 count,” Strider said. “Then a 3-0 pitch to him, just didn’t want to give in. Threw a fastball down the middle, and he hit a homer.
“He’s seen me well in my career. Not to take away from him, but I think I’ve given him a lot of mistake pitches right down the middle. Regardless of the hitter, they are going to do damage on those.”
The only other time in Strider’s career where he allowed three home runs in a game happened on June 14, 2023 versus the Detroit Tigers.
None of the three homers Strider allowed against the Diamondbacks came against his slider. But the right-hander wasn’t pleased with that pitch Tuesday night either.
Strider called his slider in the fourth inning “atrocious.”
The Braves are 41-17 when Strider starts since he made his MLB debut in 2021. But this season, Atlanta is 0-4 during Strider starts, and he’s suffered the loss all four times.
Braves manager Brian Snitker stressed patience with Strider. He’s only pitched four times since his UCL injury last April.
Strider seemed to acknowledged patience is key to him returning to form. But he also added he doesn’t approach pitching every five days as practice.
“We gotta win games. When it’s my turn to pitch, I’ve gotta give us a chance to win, and if I can’t do that, I don’t know what value I’m providing,” said Strider.
