Spencer Strider had a rough evening, as did Rafael Montero, and the offense couldn’t get enough going against Zac Gallen to cover it up as the Braves lose 8-3 in the series opener.

Things started ominously for Strider in the first inning when he allowed a 445 foot homer on his fourth pitch of the game, an 0-2 hanging change-up that Ketel Marte got every bit of to right-center to give Arizona an early 1-0 lead.

It looked like Ronald Acuńa Jr was going to tie things up at 1-1 in the bottom half but his drive to the wall was caught by a leaping Corbin Carroll and the Braves mustered very little offense early on against Zac Gallen.

Eugenio Suarez started the top of the second by roping a ground-run double to left-center field and was driven in a couple of batters later on a bloop hit from Gabby Moreno. The bloop hit was unlucky but on the whole, Strider was probably fortunate to only be down 2-0 after 2 innings. Arizona had some scorched batted balls that ended up in fielders glove as Strider’s fastball just wasn’t at a sufficient enough quality to keep hitters honest.

It got worse for Strider in the 3rd when Corbin Carroll led off with a single to center and that man again Ketel Marte crushed another one, this time a 3-0 fastball right down the middle he lined into the Chophouse to give Arizona a 4-0 lead before the Braves could even get a rally started.

The offense finally woke up in the bottom of the 4th when Rookie of the Month Drake Baldwin lined a high fastball down the right field line for a solo homer and the Braves had finally shown up.

Two batters later Matt Olson singled up the middle and the Arizona’s defense decided to help the home team out a little. Marcell Ozuna grounded a pretty routine ball to the third base for what should’ve been the third out of the inning but Suarez let it slide under his glove and down the left field line for a 2-base error, with Matt Olson scoring all the way from first on the play. Ozzie Albies followed with an RBI single to left-center and suddenly the Braves had life in a 4-3 game.

Unfortunately for Strider, the good vibes were extremely short lived. Corbin Carroll led-off the next inning launching a 438 foot solo homer to right center field to push the lead back to 5-3. Strider’s night was done after 5 innings giving up 5 earned runs, 3 homers, 4 strikeouts and 2 walks. Most notably Strider threw 39 four-seam fastballs and generated exactly 1 swing and miss. This is the new reality Strider is going to have to figure out when his fastball can’t simply overwhelm hitters.

The game still had some intrigue left in it in the bottom of the 8th when the Braves put two runners on, singles from Acuńa and Riley, and Marcell Ozuna at the plate. Ozuna put a charge into one 106 mph to straightaway center field but it was tracked down right at the wall for the third out of the inning. Hit anywhere else in the park it’s probably a go-ahead 3-run homer. The way the Braves are going, it was just a loud end to a rally.

All the intrigue was removed once Rafael Montero entered the game for the top of the ninth. Two singles and a 3-run homer from Carroll later and a 5-3 game turned into and 8-3 game with haste. The Braves went quietly in the bottom half for their 10th loss in their last 14 games.

Braves fall to 27-32 on the year and now sit 10.5 game back in the NL East. Things are getting very late very early for the 2025 Atlanta Braves. They’ll try and bounce back tomorrow with their ace Chris Sale on the mound facing off against Merrill Kelly at 7:15 ET at Truist Park.