Elder shines in 7 strong innings, continues to find form 

CHICAGO -- It isn’t easy to go toe-to-toe with someone displaying no-hit stuff, but Bryce Elder was more than up for the challenge Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

For five innings, he battled with Cubs starter Cade Horton, who allowed only a first-inning walk to Matt Olson and otherwise shut down the Braves. Then, Chicago reliever Ben Brown entered in the top of the sixth. He worked around a free pass and a wild pitch to keep the no-hitter intact.

Meanwhile, Elder had kept his team well within striking distance. He held the Cubs to just one run (unearned due to Eli White’s second-inning throwing error) on four hits through the first six frames, walking zero while striking out six. At that point, all Elder needed was some run support.

He finally got that in the top of the seventh, when newly acquired Ha-Seong Kim launched a three-run home run to the left-field bleachers -- the first homer for an Atlanta shortstop this season. That proved to be enough, as Elder threw a clean seventh and Tyler Kinley and Raisel Iglesias each tossed a scoreless frame in relief to finish off the Braves’ 5-1 win.

“I was pleased with it,” Elder said. “I thought I commanded the zone pretty well. I really thought that might've been the most complete [outing], as far as action on every pitch, that I've had. I've been working hard on the slider, and it's kind of starting to show signs of how it used to be. It's getting a lot better, and I'm ready to go next time out.”

Elder finished his night with just the one unearned run allowed, bringing his season ERA down to 5.54. It hasn’t been that low since June 22 (4.77), and in the 11 starts between then and Wednesday, he posted a 7.06 ERA.

But recently, more consistently effective starts have helped that number fall. That included a better month of August, in which Elder pitched six or more innings while allowing two or fewer earned runs four of six times.

There have still been some rougher outings, but with Wednesday’s performance, Elder has now tossed six or more innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his last five starts -- completing seven innings in three of them.

“What he's been doing has been really impressive,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Four out of the last five have been just really, really good. He's in a good place right now.”

Elder noted the work on his slider as a reason for his stronger efforts.

He said he’d always thrown one that was “kind of nose-down gyro,” but that over time, he began to throw it differently. Elder “really looked into the nose being up, and the ball was just spinning right in the heart of the plate and people were hitting it.”

The slider was a pitch he felt was his top swing-and-miss offering, but he wasn’t getting those whiffs at the same level.

However, Elder has noticed progress with the slider since about the end of June. Six of his top seven single-game whiff rates with it this season have come since the calendar flipped to July -- including Wednesday’s 38.4 percent -- giving that credence.

“It's finally starting to come around,” Elder said. “Starting to kind of get out in front of the ball again, really try to rip on it. It's been getting better.”

After an All-Star 2023 season, Elder made only 10 big league starts in 2024 as he kept getting optioned back to the Minors throughout the season. He’s now made 24 starts for the Braves this year, and he’s had some strong moments, but he just hasn’t had consistent results for a long enough period of time.

It’s been a bit of an unpredictable ride for him over the last two years. This more recent, better run of success, though, might just be Elder putting his best foot forward and trying to secure a rotation spot beyond this season.

“We talked about it a couple weeks ago: Even though I was giving up runs there for a little while, I talked about kind of my job here is just to keep eating innings,” Elder said. “If I give up some runs and then make it into the sixth or seventh, I did my job. I gave us a chance. And then, now, I've been making pitches like I was, and I'm getting some breaks and making more pitches when I need to. I'm happy about being able to go seven again.”