Strider Sounds Off On Another Losing Braves Homestand, His Own Pitching

The Atlanta Braves righty expressed his frustration with another losing homestand and performance on the mound, giving himself the blame where he could

Strider put much of the loss on himself once again | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

What looked like another solid day from Spencer Strider through four innings fizzled out as the Giants got their bats going and beat the Atlanta Braves 9-3. 

The Braves come out of the All-Star Break and drop back-to-back series to have a losing homestand. Hope of getting the season going again was quickly squashed. 

“Yeah, I mean, it’s embarrassing, honestly,” Strider said after the game. “Feels like we’ve had a million opportunities to make adjustments and get heading in the direction we think we’re capable of; nobody more so than myself, and just haven't been able to do it.” 

Strider said after the game that it might be time to look in the mirror, especially him.

“I think at this point, we’ve gotta be brutally honest with ourselves,” he said. “And like I said, more so myself than anybody.”

The 26-year-old righty pushed for finding a process that will help make the team better. It will require accepting the reality, communicating with each other about the situation and seeing what parts of your “daily behavior” help you reach your goals. 

Strider felt the reflection needs to be done, no matter how unpleasant it might be. 

“I think just the process can be uncomfortable at times, and it’s difficult to address some of those things that cause you failure. I think that’s part of life, but you gotta confront the reality of where you are if you wanna get where you wanna go.” 

He finished the day after five innings, allowing three earned runs on five hits and three walks while striking out seven. All three runs came on two home runs hit in the inning. One was an unlikely shot by Rafael Devers where he flung the bat out over the plate and hit it out. Matt Chapman hit a two-run shot a couple of at-bats later. 

While both pitches were ones that easily could have gone in Strider’s favor, he wasn’t going to brush it off as “that’s baseball.” He put those on himself. He pointed out that the only other time he had allowed a home run in a similar fashion to how Devers hit one out was when the same hitter got to his slider down two years ago. 

“I could suppose you could say it’s on me for going to the well too many times,” he said. 

He said after, the belief in the pitches he throws is equally important and how well it’s placed and executed. Getting frustrated after the Devers home run contributed to things unraveling further, and he took the blame for that. 

Even when being asked about how he’s hard on himself, he found a way to be hard on himself again in his answer. He strives for perfection and if he doesn’t have a good day, and if the team doesn’t win, he’s not going to provide a positive takeaway. 

In 13 starts this season, Strider has a 3.72 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP and 89 strikeouts across 72 2/3 innings pitched. It’s a lower ERA than what he finished with during his All-Star season in 2023. 

Even if he’s not pitching up to his own expectations, going out there once every five times through the rotation has been huge for this team. Rough days are going to happen. The reality is that when the team’s season is sinking and the rotation is battered and bruised, the losses are going to be emphasized. But Strider is one of the last guys on this team that those observing are gonna pin blame on. 

He’s not going to stand for that, but someone has to say it.