ATLANTA -- Nationals starting pitcher Michael Soroka made a return to the place of his MLB roots on Tuesday against the Braves at Truist Park.
Soroka, who was drafted by Atlanta in the first round (28th overall) in 2015, pitched against the Braves for the first time since he was traded to the White Sox in November 2023.
Not only was it his first time pitching against the team he made his MLB debut with in 2018, it was also his first time pitching at Truist Park since the trade.
Soroka, who signed a one-year, $9 million contract with the Nationals in December, allowed two runs on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts over four innings.
“I was excited,” Soroka said. “Obviously it’s been a while since [I was at Truist Park] and took that mound. There’s not a ton of guys [on the Braves] I played with all those years back then. There’s still certainly some I came up with and made good memories with. I definitely wanted to give them my best tonight. I feel like I did that. It kind of got away from me a little bit.”
It was Soroka’s third start of the season after he missed a little over a month with a right biceps strain.
“[The arm felt] good,” Soroka said. “Even when you get up there and start to notice a little fatigue, the stuff is still sharp. It’s just a matter of execution. It’s something to be mindful of going forward. I’m not taking the foot off the gas. Physically, everything is moving on.”
Nationals manager Dave Martinez was encouraged by the outing, as Soroka lowered his ERA from 7.20 to 6.43 in the no-decision.
“His stuff was good,” Martinez said. “His fastball was electric [and] his breaking ball was good. His pitch count got up there. We want him for the whole season. We have to make sure we take care of him.”
Soroka threw 78 pitches May 7 in his first start back from the injured list. Soroka threw 81 pitches on Tuesday.
“In that fourth inning, he threw over 30 pitches,” Martinez said. “That’s a lot for a guy coming off an IL stint. He kept us in the game. We were [tied] at 2-2.”
Soroka said he doesn’t feel like he’s still in ramp-up mode.
“I feel like I’ve had enough [time to ramp up],” Soroka said. “They were very gracious letting me get up there with my [rehab] starts. We definitely didn’t rush that process. They did it right, and I’m very thankful for that. We have a long season ahead of us, and hopefully that’s full of six-plus-inning outings.”
Soroka has thrown two pitches over 96.9 mph in his career, and both were to Braves third baseman Austin Riley (97.1 and 97.2) in the first inning.
“I set out to make sure I gave it my best tonight,” Soroka said. “Austin was one of the guys I came up with, and I wasn’t [going to] let him beat me on anything but my best. Everything was clicking early. I thought, mechanically, in the bullpen, everything fell into place. In the third inning I found a good rhythm but fell behind a couple [of times]. I just could have made some better pitches with two strikes and I could have gone out for another inning or two.”
Of Soroka’s four hits allowed, the big blow was off the bat of catcher Drake Baldwin, who tagged a low slider for a two-run home run over the right-field wall.
“I think it was the right pitch to call,” Soroka said. “I just kind of got on the outside of [the zone] a little bit and it stayed up. Credit to [Baldwin] for going down and getting it. Balls like to get out to that part of the park. … It was just a good piece of hitting, and next time he probably needs to see something else.”
Soroka hadn’t reunited with the few former teammates who are still on the Braves.
“I made sure that they knew it was compete time,” Soroka said. “I think I said something about [Riley] wearing tennis shoes in [batting practice] yesterday. I try to keep it all business when we’re out there, and I want to win. That matters a lot.”