Strider opens September with second straight strong start

CHICAGO -- A strong collective effort from Atlanta’s offense was not enough to secure a win for the Braves at Wrigley Field on Monday. Despite scoring six runs on 10 hits, the Braves fell to the Cubs in 10 innings, 7-6.

The offense scored six runs in the first five innings, giving the Braves a 6-1 lead, but that was ultimately overshadowed as their pitchers allowed the Cubs to chip away at the five-run buffer.

Starting pitcher Spencer Strider gave up three runs on five hits and three walks, pitching into the sixth inning despite not feeling like he had his best stuff. Strider said he felt like his slider in particular was not moving the way he wanted, and he could tell right away that the Cubs' batters were picking up on that.

“Just no movement to it,” Strider said of his breaking pitch. “I don’t know if they were looking for it in certain counts, but they just really never offered at it. And you know, that’s what good teams do, and they have a good approach and they were tough.”

Strider said being able to see the pitch metrics on the left-field scoreboard at Wrigley helped him gauge what was off about his slider from the beginning of his outing.

“A lot of parks don’t have [that], Truist [Park] doesn’t have it,” he said. “It’s really helpful to making game adjustments, if you’re able to do so. Kind of get an idea of where your stuff’s at. It’s nice to know kind of where you are. Helps inform decision making and gives you instant feedback on if a guy doesn’t offer at a pitch and you feel like you executed it. You can kind of get some context immediately to why.”

Strider is still looking to find the form that made him a 20-game winner in 2023 before a right elbow surgery cost him almost all of last season. Coming off of a 10.13 August ERA, Monday’s performance was something of a step in a good direction, especially coming off of his Aug. 25 start, when he tossed seven innings of one-run ball against the Marlins.

“It’s just going to be up and down for him,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Last one, we had a whole lot of optimism. We still have optimism. As long as he can keep making starts, that’s the thing. And he’s going to have some off days, like everybody does.”

Relievers Hunter Stratton and Dylan Lee worked to preserve the shrinking lead, but Pierce Johnson and John Brebbia gave up three combined runs (two earned) in the final three frames. It was Carson Kelly’s single to left field in the 10th against Brebbia that sealed the win for the Cubs.

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This spoiled a solid effort from Snitker’s lineup. With the exception of leadoff man Jurickson Profar, every spot in the Braves' order got on base at least once, and Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, Michael Harris II and Nacho Alvarez Jr. each reached multiple times. Baldwin walked twice and singled twice and was a part of the scoring in the third and fifth innings, while Harris II hit a single and a double and scored a run in the fifth.

“We’ve been a different team here lately,” Harris said. “And everybody’s kind of honing in and believing in each other and just trying to do little things to score runs. Everybody’s not trying to be the hero. It’s just doing the little things to get on and get over and allow the next man behind you to do the job.”

The Braves have now been walked off in the 10th inning twice in the last three games, after giving up the go-ahead run in the eighth on Friday and getting blown out 19-4 on Thursday night.

Despite that -- and a short after playing Sunday night in Philadelphia -- the Braves came into the visitors’ locker room at Wrigley full of energy on Monday afternoon.

“We rebounded from the blowout a few days ago and have played two really good teams, and we’re right there,” Snitker said. “And you know, I think we just have to keep battling. I’m proud of the guys -- we got in really late, [but] we came out and played a really spirited, good ballgame today.”