Atlanta Braves' Spencer Strider Joins Max Scherzer in Elite Baseball History During First Half of Season
The Atlanta Braves beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-1, on Saturday night.
The win was fueled by a Sean Murphy three-run homer and another great performance on the mound from Spencer Strider.
The young righty went 6.1 innings, surrendering four hits, no runs and one walk. He struck out 11 in moving to 11-2 on the year. He lowered his season ERA to 3.44.
With the 11 strikeouts, Strider has perhaps put himself on a Cy Young track, as he's joined multi-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer in baseball history.
Per ESPN Stats & Info:
Spencer Strider is the second player in the All-Star Era (since 1933) to strike out 160 batters and allow 80 hits or fewer entering the All-Star Break.
He joins Max Scherzer in 2017, when he went on to take home NL Cy Young honors.
Strider's 166 strikeouts lead all of baseball as he's 13 ahead of Kevin Gausman of the Blue Jays (153) and 28 ahead of Pablo Lopez of the Twins (138).
The 24-year-old has been huge for the Braves in the wake of injuries to Max Fried and Kyle Wright, helping to stabilize the rotation.
In his third season in the big leagues, he's a lifetime 23-7 pitcher with a 3.02 ERA. He's struck out a whopping 368 batters in 238.2 innings.
The Braves are on an incredible roll right now, having won nine of their last 10 to take over the best record in baseball. Atlanta is currently 60-28 and 9.5 games up on the second-place Marlins in the National League East.
The Rays have all of a sudden dropped seven straight and only lead the Orioles by 2.0 games in the American League East.
Follow Fastball on FanNation in social media
Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.
You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
