MLB-best Braves hit 60-win mark, hand slumping Rays seventh-straight loss
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — As good as All-Star pitcher Spencer Strider has been throughout a private seven-game profitable streak, the majors-leading Atlanta Braves have been even higher as a group.
“We’ve just been playing great. It feels like every part is kind of clicking right now,” Strider stated Saturday evening after hanging out 11 via 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 6-1 victory over the slumping Tampa Bay Rays.
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“Even through the course of the game when somebody’s struggling or the offence is struggling or we fall behind, the other half of the team is going to come pick you up and figure it out,” Strider added. “That’s kind of what’s been happening. We’re playing pretty loose, and it feels good.”
Atlanta has received 20 of twenty-two.
“Nobody rides the wave too high,” Braves supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “The smartest thing I can say is that they’re a bunch of boring professionals as a result of they arrive in and so they do the identical factor each day. They like to compete.
“They don’t get caught up in anything because they know how quick things can change. They focus on today. I think is the greatest attribute that these guys have.”
Strider (11-2) joined Tampa Bay’s Shane McClanahan and Arizona’s Zac Gallen as the one 11-game winners within the majors. Strider improved to 7-0 over his final eight begins and boosted his majors-leading strikeout complete to 166.
Sean Murphy homered for the third straight recreation, a profession finest for Atlanta’s All-Star catcher. His three-run shot completed a four-run, fourth-inning in opposition to rookie Taj Bradley (5-5), who held the Braves hitless till Ronald Acuna Jr. opened the fourth with a double. He then scored on Matt Olson’s RBI single.
Murphy, whose two-run homer was the decisive blow within the Braves’ 2-1 victory Friday evening within the sequence opener, hiked the result in 4-0 and prolonged Atlanta’s streak of consecutive video games with not less than one dwelling run to a franchise record-tying 25.
The Braves have homered in each outing since June 11, the longest energetic streak within the majors. They additionally had a 25-game streak in 1998 and lead the majors with 168 homers — the file for a group earlier than the All-Star break.
In clinching the weekend sequence between the groups with the very best two data in baseball, the Braves improved to 60-28. The Rays (57-35) have dropped a season-high seven straight video games — their longest skid since June 2021 — however nonetheless have the highest mark within the AL.
Strider, who will journey to Seattle for the All-Star Game on Tuesday evening however is not going to pitch, allowed a leadoff single to Yandy Diaz and a one-out double to Luke Raley earlier than hanging out Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe to flee a first-inning jam.
“He got pretty nasty right there with Randy and Brandon at second and third with one out,” Rays supervisor Kevin Cash stated. “After that, I didn’t feel there was too much of an opportunity at any point. He’s really good.”
The right-hander fanned seven in a row earlier than hitting Wander Franco with a pitch with two outs within the third and completed with the eleventh double-digit strikeout efficiency of his profession. Diaz had two of Tampa Bay’s 4 hits off Strider, who walked one and threw 104 pitches over 6 1/3 innings.
The Braves misplaced a shutout bid within the eighth when reliever Ben Heller walked Franco, who finally scored an unearned run on a throwing error.
An evening after being restricted to a first-inning run and 6 hits, the Rays completed with simply 4 hits in Saturday’s loss. They’ve solely scored eight runs of their final 5 video games, the fewest they’ve had in any five-game stretch since August 2017.
“When you’re facing Charlie Morton and Spencer Strider, they’re really good pitchers,” Cash stated. “We’re a good team. We can hit good pitching. We’re just not doing it right now.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rays: RHP Drew Rasmussen will bear his third elbow surgical procedure July 24. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t rule out Rasmssen being again mid-season subsequent 12 months. … OF Josh Lowe was positioned on the household emergency record and INF Jonathan Aranda was recalled from Triple-A Durham. Aranda is hitting .342 over 71 video games for Durham.
UP NEXT
Braves All-Star Bryce Elder (7-1) and Rays RHP Zach Eflin (9-4) had been set to start out Sunday within the sequence finale. Like Strider, Elder will journey to Seattle for the All-Star Game however received’t pitch.
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