Strider hoping to be effective when facing trouble

ATLANTA -- Spencer Strider has plenty of time to aim for a National League Cy Young Award or a 300-strikeout season. The Braves hurler’s current focus is bouncing back from the ugly outing he experienced in the 11-6 loss to the Cardinals on Wednesday night at Truist Park.

“I just didn’t give us a chance, it’s happened a few too many times this year,” Strider said. “I’ve got to find a way to be effective when everything doesn’t go my way. Otherwise, it’s going to keep happening. Hopefully, I can make an adjustment.”

As Strider allowed six runs and struck out five over just 2 2/3 innings, he might have bid adieu to his Cy Young Award candidacy and the chance to tally 300 strikeouts. But he still has the opportunity to right himself and ensure he enters the postseason in a much better position than he did last year, when he strained his oblique with two weeks left in the regular season.

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“They’re going to have them [kind of days],” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He’ll learn from it, file it away, be all that much better from what he just experienced.”

Matt Olson singled during a two-run fourth, and he increased his MLB-leading home run total to 46 during a three-run sixth. But for the second straight night, the Braves’ late rally wasn’t enough to overcome a shaky start.

The Braves were rolling before losing their past three games. After going 8-2 during a road trip that included games against the Giants, Rockies and Dodgers, Atlanta has now lost the first two games of this three-game set against the last-place Cardinals.

But even with this hiccup, the Braves still have a 3 1/2-game lead in the battle for MLB’s best record and a six-game lead over the Dodgers in the battle for the NL’s best record.

• Games remaining: vs. STL (1), vs. PIT (3), at PHI (4), at MIA (3), vs. PHI (3), at WSH (4), vs. CHC (3), vs. WSH (3)
• Standings update: The Braves lead the second-place Phillies by 13 1/2 games in the National League East race. Atlanta is currently the top NL division winner, meaning it would receive a first-round bye and face the winner of the No. 4 and No. 5 Wild Card teams in a five-game NL Division Series starting on Oct. 7.
• Magic number for postseason berth: 4; Magic number for division title: 11

Strider’s great strikeout numbers have made him arguably the game’s most exciting starting pitcher. But as he has posted a 4.55 ERA over 10 starts since the All-Star break, the 24-year-old hurler has reminded the baseball world he is in his second full big league season and just his first full season as a starting pitcher.

“I’m not exactly sure when I’m pitching again, but the plan is to go out and not have one like I did today and give us a chance to win,” Strider said. “That’s really the goal in the postseason. There’s going to be a lot of bad things that happen you’ll have to deal with and you don’t like it. I’ve got to learn to be effective when those things happen.”

Though Strider has continued to rank near the top in pitching WAR, this stretch since the All-Star break has weakened his Cy Young Award candidacy. He ranks 13th in the NL with a 3.83 ERA. Teammates Charlie Morton (3.32) and Bryce Elder (3.42) rank fifth and sixth, respectively.

Strider’s bid for the coveted pitching award seemed to heavily weigh on his bid to record MLB’s first 300-strikeout season since Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander reached the mark in 2019. No Braves pitcher has reached the 300-strikeout mark during the modern era (since 1900). John Smoltz set the modern era franchise season record with 276 strikeouts in 1996.

Strider has 250 strikeouts with likely just four starts remaining. He stands with Smoltz and Phil Niekro (262 in 1977) as the only Braves to tally 250-plus strikeouts in the modern era. Reaching 300 might be mathematically possible, but it seems improbable as the Braves may do anything to avoid a repeat of last year’s finish.

Strider strained his oblique during a Sept. 18 start last year and then remained sedentary most of the next few weeks before being chased during the third inning of his Game 3 start in the NL Division Series start against the Phillies.

With that experience fresh in his memory, Strider can spend the regular season’s final weeks focused on making this year’s playoff experience far more enjoyable.

Strider pitched effectively against the Dodgers on Aug. 31 before surrendering a Mookie Betts three-run homer that tipped off Ronald Acuña Jr.’s glove and fell over the right-field wall in the fifth. He was far less effective in this latest outing against the Cardinals.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer before the game’s first out was recorded, and the Cardinals tallied two more singles in a four-run first. Strider surrendered another double in the second and was pulled four plate appearances after Nolan Arenado doubled in the third.

“We know the stuff he has and the guy he is when he toes the rubber, so it’s no big deal,” Olson said.