Here’s what mature Spencer Schwellenbach took from rough outing in loss to Blue Jays

“I mean, honestly, just kind of let it get away from myself,” Schwellenbach said after the game.

Schwellenbach allowed six runs over 4 2/3 innings. Some context on this:

The six earned runs are tied for the most he’s given up in a major-league start – and Tuesday marked his 25th big-league outing. He surrendered six earned runs on June 5, 2024, in Boston – but hadn’t ever allowed more than four otherwise before facing Toronto.

Tuesday was tied for his shortest outing since he debuted at the end of last May. He went 4 2/3 frames twice last season.

Tuesday’s fifth inning is the first time Schwellenbach has allowed five runs in an inning in the majors.

So, yes, this was an outlier. And before this start, Schwellenbach had allowed one earned run over 20 innings across three starts this season.

How will he process this one and learn from it?

“Honestly, that’s a good question,” Schwellenbach said. “You feel like some days your stuff is really good and you get hit, and then you feel like some days your stuff’s not as good and you throw good, your stats are good. I feel like that was one of the days today I felt like I had some of my really good stuff. My fastball felt really good and the results just weren’t there. You just get back to the drawing board and next bullpen, just work on some things, fine-tune some location stuff. I feel like I didn’t quite have some of my off-speed pitches today, and that’s what makes me good is having six pitches and being effective that way. That’s step one is just getting back to the pitcher I am and making sure all pitches are ready to go.”

But let’s focus on the first part. Schwellenbach thought he had some really good stuff. Still, his line didn’t indicate it. This is baseball, this is pitching. It happens to every pitcher.

The challenge here: How will Schwellenbach digest everything without overreacting to it? As he said, he did have good stuff.

“Yeah, I think it’s just telling yourself that you did what you were trying to do,” Schwellenbach said. “And if you think of it that way, then the results don’t really matter. I mean, they do. But at the end of the day, you gotta be able to learn and leave this stuff in the past, and make sure the next one’s better.”

This start unraveled in that fifth inning. Before it, Schwellenbach had allowed one run – on a fielder’s choice in which the runner beat a throw home. The game was tied.

The fifth began with Myles Straw, who battled Schwellenbach for nine pitches. On the ninth pitch, he lined a single. Schwellenbach couldn’t put him away. Down 1-2 earlier in the at-bat, Straw fouled off three pitches and took two more for balls.

The next batter, Alan Roden, mashed his first career homer – a two-run blast that gave Toronto a two-run lead. In his previous at-bat, Roden doubled off Schwellenbach and later scored. This time, he sent a first-pitch hanging curveball to the right-field bleachers.

“I’m always trying to get the first guy out of the inning, and I had him two strikes and couldn’t put him away,” Schwellenbach said. “That’s the first thing is getting the leadoff hitter. The first-pitch homer, I’m trying to pound the zone, and if I spike the curveball in the dirt and I’m down 1-0 with a runner on, I’m already putting myself in a bad situation. So, you just kind of gotta wash that one and learn from it and try to get better.”

Then Bo Bichette doubled on a hanging slider. And after him, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. walked. The Blue Jays, up two runs, had two men on for one of their big offseason signings, Anthony Santander.

On the first pitch to Santander, Schwellenbach left a cutter over the heart of the plate. He didn’t get it back. A three-run homer.

Six runs against Schwellenbach – five that inning.

“I think it’s just location, pretty much. He left some balls in the middle of the plate,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “And I told him when he came out, I said, ‘As long as you feel good, we’re gonna do it again in five days. This is gonna happen. That’s part of this whole thing.’ But I thought his stuff was really good. But he just missed location, and when you do that to these hitters, you’re gonna pay for it, and it’s just one of those things that, it happens. It happens to the best of them.”

Schwellenbach retired the next two batters after the Santander homer. Then Snitker walked out to the mound. Schwellenbach’s night was over before the fifth ended, which is something you don’t often see with him. In 25 career starts, he’s completed fewer than five innings only three times – and as previously mentioned, he went 4 2/3 frames in all three instances.

Snitker and others rave about Schwellenbach’s makeup. His intelligence. His even-keeled nature. He’s poised.

How will he react to this one?

“I think he gets it,” Snitker said. “In talking to him after he came out, I think he gets it. This is gonna happen. This won’t be the last. If he pitches long enough, that’s gonna happen to him again. But you know what, he understands. And it’ll probably just drive him a little harder over the week.”

The Braves’ offense could’ve helped Schwellenbach more, but Kevin Gausman shut down the group. Gausman allowed two runs – on solo homers from Austin Riley and Matt Olson – over six frames. In the ninth, Ozzie Albies added another solo shot.

Riley’s homer gave the Braves an early lead for the second night in a row. Eventually, the game got away from Schwellenbach. It happens. It will happen again.

But on the list of the Braves’ concerns through the first 17 games, Schwellenbach is near the bottom.

“He’ll be fine,” Olson said. “He’s a competitor. He’s got electric stuff. He’s – I’ve said it before – just very composed on the mound. He was composed today. He’s gonna be composed leading to the next start, and he’s gonna be fine.”