ATLANTA — There was a feel-good facet to watching Grant Holmes assemble considered one of his greatest begins towards the Dodgers, the group that chosen him within the first spherical of the MLB Draft 11 years in the past. However additional proving he could be a priceless piece of the Braves’ injury-depleted rotation was definitely the most effective product of his newest effort.
There was no purpose for Holmes to have fun when the Braves squandered his robust begin in a 2-1 loss to the Dodgers on Friday evening at Truist Park. However he had a proper to be glad after recording a career-high 9 strikeouts and limiting one of many recreation’s prime offenses to 4 hits and two runs over six innings.
“It’s fairly cool being towards the group that drafted me,” Holmes mentioned. “It’s fairly particular. Folks say it’s form of a revenge recreation. Nevertheless it’s simply us going up there and attempting to throw strikes and attempting to remain within the recreation so long as potential. We simply didn’t come out on prime.”
This was one other tough offensive evening for the Braves, who’ve totaled 5 hits over 18 innings whereas shedding their previous two video games. That they had received 9 of their earlier 11 earlier than being restricted to a few hits in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Rockies at Coors Subject.
A disappointing efficiency in an offensive haven was adopted by the problem of dealing with early-season NL Cy Younger Award candidate Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed one hit over six innings and lowered his ERA to 0.90 by means of seven begins. Yamamoto’s no-hit bid was erased by Austin Riley’s two-out hustle double within the sixth.
Matt Olson’s seventh-inning leadoff homer towards former Braves teammate Kirby Yates stored issues attention-grabbing. However the Braves have been unable to reward Holmes, who retired the primary 10 batters he confronted earlier than permitting consecutive infield singles to Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman with one out within the fourth. Betts’ 94.4 mph liner struck Holmes’ proper hamstring and rolled far sufficient away for the Dodgers’ shortstop to achieve safely. Freeman’s ground-ball single hit off the tip of a diving Olson’s glove.
“It form of threw me off a bit of bit,” Holmes mentioned of the comebacker. “It didn’t actually change the end result of what would occur. However I actually want I may have gotten to that ball.”
The infield singles preceded a Teoscar Hernández stroll and Will Smith’s sacrifice fly. Holmes then retired 5 straight earlier than Betts gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead with a solo homer within the sixth. The 29-year-old hurler gave the impression to be heading within the fallacious route when he adopted with a stroll to Freeman. However he stopped the bleeding with Hernández’s double-play groundout.
Together with minimizing harm within the fourth and regaining his composure within the sixth, Holmes gave the Braves extra confidence about his means to undergo a lineup greater than only a couple instances. He accomplished greater than 5 innings in simply considered one of seven begins final yr. However he has gone not less than 5 2/3 innings in every of his previous 4 begins. This stretch started on April 14, when he went 7 2/3 innings in a street win towards the Blue Jays.
“He’s changing into a extremely good possibility right here,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker mentioned. “This yr was the primary time he got here to camp as a projected starter. You see him making changes. That was actually spectacular tonight.”
Although Holmes didn’t get the specified end result, his effort gave the Braves a bit of extra consolation as they try to take care of the rotation absences of Spencer Strider, who will seemingly miss not less than just a few extra weeks with a proper hamstring pressure, and Reynaldo López, who won’t make one other begin after going arthroscopic proper shoulder surgical procedure in April.
Holmes has come a great distance since he and present Braves left fielder Alex Verdugo performed collectively for the Dodgers’ Rookie-level group in 2014. Holmes was the group’s hotshot first-round choice that yr and Verdugo was taken within the second spherical. Each have since overcome their share of obstacles.
Holmes spent three years within the Dodgers’ group earlier than being traded to the A’s, who stored him within the Minors earlier than releasing him in the course of the 2022 season. The South Carolina native signed with the Braves a pair weeks later, however remained within the Minors for practically two extra years earlier than debuting final June, 10 years after being drafted.
“I’d hate to see the place we’d be with out him,” Snitker mentioned.
