Following a weird game that resulted in an easy victory on Friday, the Braves were hoping to clinch a series victory behind Spencer Strider, who is still finding himself after elbow surgery.
Things started quite well for Spencer, in a 1-2-3 inning in which his fastball averaged 97 MPH, a noticeable uptick from his other starts this season. The Braves’ offense then got to work, as Chase Dollander’s command continued to be an issue for him in his rookie year, walking Acuna and Verdugo to start the game. Austin Riley reached on a bloop hit, loading the bases with no outs. In true 2025 Braves fashion, however, they got the bare minimum from the situation, only scoring one on a Matt Olson single before Ozuna struck out and Baldwin hit into a double-play. Strider continued to look more like his old self in the second, as he struck out the side in 12 pitches.
It looked like we may have to settle in for a bit, but Nick Allen reached on a two-out bloop single in the second, giving Ronald a chance to break things open. Ronald delivered and continues to be scorching hot, as he launched a towering two-run homer out for his seventh in twenty games since coming back.
Strider got right back to work in the third, notching another 3 strikeouts but allowing his first hit of the ballgame on a harmless two out single. We then settled in for a few innings as the Braves’ offense struggled to put up anything of note and Strider generally continued to dominate, even as his velocity perhaps ticked town a tad, striking out 11 Rockies through 5.0 innings. Ronald singled and reached second on a throwing error in the fifth, before an Austin Riley line drive single brought him home for a 4-0 lead. Strider’s velo visibly dropped off a tick or two in the sixth, but he struck out his 12th and 13th Rockies nonetheless after issuing his first walk, ending his outing with an impressive 6.0 innings of shutout ball on 13 strikeouts. That’s a line and a performance much more like the ace-level Spencer Strider that we are used to from before his latest elbow surgery. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come.
It was a pretty uneventful game from that point, with neither team doing much offensively. Montero covered the seventh and eighth innings admirably, with 4 Ks and no baserunners, while Dylan Lee struck out two but allowed a run in the ninth.
Join us again tomorrow, as Atlanta goes for a much-needed sweep at 1:35 PM ET.
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