Spencer Schwellenbach shows promise as Braves’ fifth starter

On Saturday evening, the Atlanta Braves picked up a major win, beating the National League East-leading Philadelphia Phillies 5-1 at Truist Park. The victory was fueled by the arm of their No. 3 overall prospect, Spencer Schwellenbach, who achieved his best performance of the season.

He earned the win after pitching six innings, striking out six Phillies without allowing a walk.

Schwellenbach, with his versatile pitching style using six different pitches, managed to strike out six Phillies and perform well with runners on base while outscoring the Phillies as Ranger Suarez. That display of skill was a big factor in his second career win, a significant improvement from his last outing, in which he allowed four earned runs.

“I changed my mind from last week and came in and made some adjustments, just hammering the strike zone,” said Schwellenbach.

Additionally, run support was a plus, given that the team had scored just 10 runs in its previous six starts. Manager Brian Snitker acknowledged the team needed to do a better job supporting its players on the mound after the game.

“It was very, very impressive from the start,” Brian Snitker said. “I’m glad we scored some runs for him. We hadn’t scored a lot of runs in his starts. He pitched well enough to have more than two wins. I thought that was really good.”

With run support, the 24-year-old thought he could have pitched more than six innings, but Snitker decided there was no benefit to the team facing the Phillies lineup again.

“It’s his first year. I don’t think giving him extra innings is going to do us any good going forward. There might be times, but the bullpen was in really good shape. I felt like he did his job. I liked that he was ready to go.”

With him and Ian Anderson Pitching well in his rehab assignments, the back end of the Braves’ rotation is getting stronger by the day.

With Schwellenbach pitching the way he has, the focus at the trade deadline should be on fixing the offense’s problems. General manager Alex Anthopoulos’ job might be slightly easier after Spencer’s loss. dominant performance against the NL East leaders.

Overall, Atlanta may still have one of the best and deepest rotations in baseball heading into the playoffs, even without Spencer Strider.