SAN DIEGO – Eight in a row.
The Braves on Tuesday defeated the Padres, 8-1, at Petco Park. That’s yet another series win for Atlanta, which is 14-4 and will look for a third consecutive sweep in Wednesday’s finale.
Five observations on the Braves’ win:
1. The game went on, from one inning to the next. A few Padres reached, but something popped out upon looking at the box score.
No hits.
Eventually, the Padres collected one hit against Spencer Strider, who wouldn’t have been able to attempt to finish the no-hitter regardless of what happened because of his pitch count. But all of this illustrated his dominance.
Strider shut out the Padres over six innings.
“I thought today was the first outing this year where I felt like myself,” he said.
His mindset changed. He went back to something they used to say at Clemson, his alma mater.
“Whether you’re a starter or reliever or whatever, you’re a closer that inning and you earn the next one,” Strider said. “I feel like that’s how I pitched last year. I had to find that mentality, and thought that helped me stick to my strengths better.”
Strider struck out nine Padres, which helped him tie an Atlanta franchise record. He allowed only that one hit, a single off Juan Soto’s bat in the sixth inning. And even after Soto reached, Strider ended the inning by getting Xander Bogaerts to ground into a double play.
He was electric.
“It makes my life easy, just because his stuff’s so good,” catcher Sean Murphy said. “We can go out there and throw pretty much whatever. As long as we execute it, I like our odds. That’s just what you can do with guys with stuff like that.”
2. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Padres scored their first run of the series, and their first since Saturday – a stretch of 25 scoreless innings. They attempted to mount a rally.
That run could’ve trimmed Atlanta’s lead to one.
Instead, the Braves still led by four runs because, in the top half, Ozzie Albies blasted a three-run shot to straightaway center.
“The Ozzie one was big,” Murphy said. “Two-run lead is big, but we gotta get six more outs against a tough lineup. Those extra three gave us some breathing room and allowed us to pitch more aggressively and do what we gotta do to get the outs.”
And then in the top of the ninth, Matt Olson crushed a three-run homer of his own. There were scattered boos here as the Braves blew open the game.
“That’s huge,” said manager Brian Snitker, who added that it allowed Atlanta to give A.J. Minter, the closer for now, a night off.
3. Murphy on Tuesday homered to the second deck in left field off Blake Snell, and set a record. Eleven hits in a row were extra-base hits, giving him the Atlanta franchise record (since 1966) for the longest run of consecutive extra-base hits.
Wally Berger of the Boston Braves (12 straight extra-base hits in 1935) still holds the overall Braves record, as Murphy singled in the eighth inning.
“Max (Fried) told me in the dugout after I hit the single, he called me a wimp,” Murphy said. “That’s cool. That’s a neat little record. But there’s a lot more season, a lot more games. We got another one (Wednesday), so I’m worried about that.”
4. With Tuesday’s start, Strider has struck out at least nine batters in eight consecutive starts, dating to last season. Strider tied John Smoltz for the franchise record (Smoltz did it in 1997).
Only 10 pitchers in baseball’s modern era (since 1900) have a longer streak of games with at least nine strikeouts. Nolan Ryan owns the major-league record, as he recorded nine or more strikeouts in 11 straight games in 1977.
“I thought it was really good,” Snitker said of Strider’s night. “He kind of got better (as he went). His rhythm and everything when he ended the game, he probably could’ve pitched all night, honestly.”
5. Following his last start, Strider candidly described his “issue” (if you can even call it that): He was trying to pace himself too much. He is built on throwing max effort, he said. That’s how he’s reached this point. He said he couldn’t abandon that.
His stuff was incredible. The Padres took 23 swings on his fastball, and whiffed eight times. His slider earned nine misses on 20 swings. He only needed to throw three changeups.
His first three starts weren’t poor. But he has high standards.
This – Tuesday’s performance – was more like the Strider we’ve come to know. His mentality, he said, had more to do with it than mechanics.
“I think that was really it,” Strider said. “I think mechanics, your body kind of follows your mind. There were some minor things I’ve been working on, really since spring training, and just sort of put those on the back and focus more on my approach and my mindset. I think that made up for any deficiencies in my mechanics, and I didn’t really feel them tonight.”
Stat to know
26 - The Braves have outscored teams by 26 runs during this eight-game winning streak. They’ve had four one-run wins during their streak.
Quotable
“I think it just points to the fact that you don’t want to get too up too early in the season. We’re playing good ball right now, things are going our way, so that’s good, and you want to ride that momentum. But yeah, it’s all about being good when you need to be at the end of the year. Hopefully we can just learn from it and just try and carry it on for the rest of the year.” - Strider on the team’s winning streak
Up next
In Wednesday’s series finale, which begins at 4:10 p.m. ET, right-hander Charlie Morton will take the mound for the Braves, who will see Padres right-hander Nick Martinez.
About the Author
