Braves and Phillies again. Grant Holmes vs. Andrew Painter again. Not on BravesVision again.
In the time we’ve been apart, the Braves took three out of four against the very pesky Nats to conclude a 6-1 road trip. The boys will return home to Cobb County with the best record in baseball (18-8).
The Phillies… were swept again. If you’re not a sicko who’s scoreboard watching in April like some of us, you’d be shocked to learn of their current streak of nine straight losses. (The Mets snapped their skid at 12, but lost Lindor to the IL in the process.)
After losing three at Wrigley, I’m sure they’re thrilled to be in Atlanta for the weekend. Sunday’s short-lived starters will have a second chance on Star Wars Night at Truist Park.
After the starter switcheroo that brought us the callups of Didier Fuentes and JR Ritchie, Grant Holmes will pitch on regular rest to open this three-game set. Only going 4.2 innings the last time out versus Philadelphia, he threw 81 pitches, gave up four hits, allowed two earned runs on a Schwarber homer, walked one, and struck out four. He allowed the home run in the first and locked it down until Walt Weiss came to pull him just shy of qualifying for a win. While encouraging, Holmes is fighting to stay in the rotation instead of being moved to the bullpen in a long relief role. His longest outing to date was 6.2 innings in Anaheim on April 8, where he threw 99 pitches. Spencer Strider looms, and JR Ritchie had a strong debut. The saxophones are getting louder.
Holmes did outlast Phillies starter Andrew Painter, who threw 84 pitches in 4 innings on Sunday. In the rookie’s first loss, he was charged with a Michael Harris homer and two runs inherited by Tim Mayza. He walked one and struck out four. The only Braves to record a knock off him so far are Harris (twice), and Ronald Acuña Jr., Dom Smith, and Mike Yastrzemski all have one apiece. Ozzie Albies recorded a walk.
Same clubs seeing the same pitcher in less than a week. What could go wrong?
If we’re going to feel this much déjà vu, we might as well lean all the way in – might be an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn’t mind another Atlanta series sweep.