A day after the Atlanta Braves got a prime Spencer Strider start against the Colorado Rockies, Atlanta got another outstanding, unexpected pitching performance out of Grant Holmes.
Prior to Sunday, the Braves righty had never had a double-digit strikeout game as a professional pitcher, so getting a strikeout performance on par with one of the greatest Braves in franchise history was certainly not on anyone’s radar.
Grant Holmes ties John Smoltz franchise mark for second-most strikeouts in a Braves game
While Grant Holmes certainly doesn’t struggle to punch out batters, coming into the game with a 9.49 K/9 mark, he had never struck out more than nine in a game. But a day after the Braves punched out 19, the 29-year-old decided to pick up the pace.
Holmes got two strikeouts in the first, then proceeded to strikeout the side in 12 pitches in the second.
After only securing one punchout in the third, Holmes struck out two in the fourth and the side in the 5th, bringing his total to 11 in just five innings. Even with the high K-count, Holmes’s pitch count was still relatively low, so Brian Snitker sent him back out for the sixth, and Holmes mowed down three more batters.
With six innings in the book, Holmes was sitting just two strikeouts shy of Spencer Strider’s 16-K franchise record, and with his pitch count under 100, the Braves manager trusted his starter to go out for the seventh inning.
After a leadoff bomb, Holmes sat down Thairo Estrada for his 15th K of the game, tying him for second in Braves franchise history for most Ks in a game.
Unfortunately, Holmes walked Brenton Doyle on a full-count, which ended his day and his bid at tying teammate Spencer Strider’s franchise record. Even more unfortunate was how quickly the wheels fell off, as Enyel De Los Santos couldn’t record an out and the Braves ended the 7th inning down 7-1.
What was looking to shape up as an excellent pitching performance for the Braves turned ugly, preventing Atlanta from sweeping the Rockies, but at least Holmes can look back and see his name in Braves history.
