Sharp Soroka 'just continues to get better'

Though the Braves did not gain the desired result, they walked away from a 1-0 Opening Day loss to the Mets with further reason to believe Michael Soroka has the potential to be an ace for many years to come.

“He just continues to get better,” Braves center fielder Ender Inciarte said. “He looks like a veteran in the clubhouse. He’s confident and he’s a mature guy. It’s fun to watch him pitch out there, man.”

Eleven days shy of his 23rd birthday, Soroka took the Citi Field mound Friday afternoon and became the youngest Opening Day starter in Braves modern-era history. The easygoing Canadian has tallied just 35 career starts. But he has shown great poise and looked unflappable in big situations.

Asked to make his first career postseason start in front of St. Louis’ raucous crowd last year, Soroka limited the Cardinals to two hits and one run over seven innings. He took the same confident approach into the Opening Day matchup against Jacob deGrom and once again traded zeros with the Mets' ace, who has won the past two National League Cy Young Awards.

Unfortunately for Soroka, his effort was thwarted when Yoenis Céspedes jumped on Chris Martin’s elevated 0-1 fastball in the seventh and drilled a homer deep into the left-field seats. The shot was a memorable homer for the Mets' designated hitter, who missed the 2019 season due to a right ankle fracture.

"I'm very excited,” Céspedes said. “It was very exciting just to be able to play again, and to be able to have a moment where I played and also hit the home run that decided the game, I don't have words for a situation like that."

While Céspedes is attempting to reignite his career, Soroka is still constructing the early stages of what could be a very impressive one. The young Braves hurler limited the Mets to four hits over six scoreless innings, but he was lifted with his pitch count at 69.

“My gut told me if you have a kid like that -- and I don’t care if it’s April or July -- and it’s his first start and he gives you six innings, that’s above and beyond what you can expect,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I was hoping for four [innings].”

The Mets took a similar cautious approach with deGrom, who struck out eight and allowed just one hit over a 72-pitch, five-inning effort.

While pitch count influences a manager’s decision, the inning total may be even more influential, especially within a strong early-season start. This marked the first time since October that Soroka had completed an inning and gone back to the dugout at least six times.

“I think coming into [this start] we understood it, because the up-downs are a different thing,” Soroka said. “Had it been the fourth or fifth inning when I had hit that pitch count, I definitely would have pushed harder to go back out. But the thing you have to remember is you’re coming into the season with a fresh bullpen as well as a really good bullpen.”

Within the three games they have matched up against each other, Soroka has allowed two earned runs over 18 2/3 innings. deGrom has allowed four earned runs over 18 innings. This marked the first time the Mets won a game started by these two pitchers.

Fortunately, there will likely be many more opportunities for these two division rivals to pit their aces against each other.

“I’ve gotten used to watching him and feeding off the energy he brings to the mound,” Soroka said. “He’s been so good for the last few years. You just kind of want to keep up.”