Atlanta Braves right-hander Grant Holmes was downright dominant in his most recent outing, registering 15 strikeouts to mark his first double-digit total in his career.
While impressive, to say the least, the effort also came in a 10-1 loss to the woeful Colorado Rockies.
Mired in a four-start winless skid, Holmes (3-6, 3.97 ERA) will look get back in the win column on Saturday afternoon when the Braves play the middle contest of their three-game series against the host Miami Marlins.
Holmes would be wise to keep a keen eye on rookie Agustin Ramirez, who homered and matched a season high with four RBIs in Miami’s 6-2 victory in the series opener on Friday. Ramirez, who has a team-leading 11 homers, also went deep and had four RBIs in Miami’s 10-8 victory over the San Diego Padres on May 28.
After watching Ramirez hit a 436-foot homer on Friday, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough was more than willing to sign off on the idea of his charge appearing in the Home Run Derby next month in Atlanta in advance of the All-Star Game.
“Agustin could put on an absolute show in an environment like that and certainly has the power to do it,” McCullough said. “That would be really cool for him and for the nation to continue to get a chance to look at him.”
Ramirez has four multi-hit performances over his past eight games, including three homers and eight RBIs.
First things first, however. He’ll need to get a look at Holmes, who allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits Sunday over 6 1/3 innings in the rout by the Rockies. Holmes departed the game before the bullpen imploded, but the result still was Holmes falling to 0-3 in his past four starts.
“I tweaked a little bit of my mechanics, but it was just more about rhythm,” he said. “Having a fluid rhythm, and I think it worked pretty well for me. I was able to locate the sliders down, get some swing and misses on the heaters in the zone, which I hadn’t been able to do this season.”
Holmes, 29, is 0-0 with a 5.19 ERA in two career appearances (both starts) against the Marlins.
Miami right-hander Eury Perez (0-1, 6.43 ERA) will provide the opposition on Saturday.
Perez, 22, permitted one run on four hits in four innings of a no-decision against the Washington Nationals on Sunday as Miami won 3-1. The 6-foot-8 hurler was making his second appearance in his return from Tommy John surgery.
Perez endured a horrific performance in his lone career meeting with Atlanta, a 7-0 loss on July 1, 2023. He allowed six runs on seven hits — including two homers — in one-third of an inning for a bloated 162.00 ERA.
Perez will want to pitch carefully to Matt Olson, who had an RBI single in the fourth inning Friday to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and his on-base streak to 21.
Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. collected two hits in the series opener. He has hit safely in 22 of 25 games since returning from a torn left ACL.
The Braves saw their three-game winning streak end Friday and fell to 12-25 on the road this season.
–Field Level Media
