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 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 struck out nine Padres, which helped him tie an Atlanta franchise record. He allowed only that one hit, a seeing-eye 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.
2. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Padres scored their first run of the series, and their first since Saturday – a run 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. It took the air out of the ballpark and gave the Braves some breathing room.
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.
3. Months ago, the Braves acquired Sean Murphy, one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. His defense has lived up to the hype.
His offense?
Well, here’s this: 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) holds the overall Braves record.
In the fourth inning, with the Braves up a run, Murphy saw a 92 mph fastball middle and away. He sent it 421 feet for a solo homer.
4. Strider walked three batters and hit another. But he held the Padres hitless in three at-bats with men in scoring position.
After his last start, Strider said he would stop simply trying to pace himself and instead go max effort, as he always had previously. It worked.
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.
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.
The external measure of how much Strider is competing, he said, is his velocity.
In his last start, his fastball averaged 97.1 mph. In this one, he averaged 97.5 mph, topping out at 99.6 mph.
His stuff was incredible. The Padres took 23 swings on his fastball and whiffed eight times. His slider earned nine whiffs on 20 swings. He only needed to throw three change-ups.
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.
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.
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.
