Braves set for bullpen day against slumping Cardinals
The Braves will go for their fifth straight win on Tuesday when they host the St. Louis Cardinals, but Atlanta won’t have its recovering ace on the mound.
Atlanta opened the three-game series with a 7-6 come-from-behind win on Monday, handing St. Louis its fifth straight loss.
The Braves had planned to give Spencer Strider his second start since returning from Tommy John surgery. But the right-hander had to be placed back on the injured list after sustaining a right hamstring strain before Monday’s game.
“He was just playing catch. There wasn’t anything accelerated or strenuous,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s just a freak thing. You can do everything right — which he does — and still have something happen.”
The severity of the injury won’t be known until Strider is re-evaluated on Tuesday.
In his absence, the Braves will go with a bullpen game. They did not announce a starter immediately after the series opener.
St. Louis will use right-hander Andre Pallante (2-1, 3.22 ERA). He is coming off a loss to the New York Mets on Thursday, when he allowed four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts in six innings. Pallante allowed all the runs in the second inning, then settled down to retire 12 of the next 13 batters.
“I did some things toward the end,” Pallante said afterward. “I liked the way I was mixing my pitches and executing. I started to loosen up a little bit. I got some more velocity on my sinker. Everything was a little sharper.”
Pallante has made five career appearances, but only one of them a start, against Atlanta, going 0-1 with a 12.15 ERA over 6 2/3 innings.
The Braves’ offense produced two more homers on Monday and has hit 23 over the past 13 games. After hitting only six homers in their first nine games, the Braves are now fourth in the National League with 29 home runs.
Austin Riley continues to feast against St. Louis pitching. He hit his sixth homer, his seventh in his past 12 games against the Cardinals and his 10th career long ball against St. Louis.
St. Louis got plenty of offense from the bottom of the order on Monday. Nolan Gorman, Pedro Pages and Victor Scott II combined to go 7-for-12 with four runs and three RBIs. It was a homecoming for Scott, who grew up in suburban Atlanta and had never played against the Braves.
Pages and Scott sparked a three-run rally in the ninth inning that nearly erased a four-run lead. The Cardinals had a runner at first when Nolan Arenado ended the game on a soft grounder in front of the plate.
“If you remove yourself from the result, which is what I’m trying to do at the moment, the guys are building toward something that’s good,” said St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol, who was ejected in the eighth inning while on the way to change pitchers. “But to be on the losing side of it again, it’s just frustrating. There were some really good at-bats to get within one, but again, good baseball.”
