When you are a Southern kid from Huntsville, Ala., selected by the pitching-proud Braves out of a tradition-rich Vanderbilt program with the fifth overall pick of the draft, there are inherent lofty expectations. Particularly after Braves officials point to your physical stature — a rangy 6-foot-4 — and say “that’s what they look like” and fawn over your overpowering stuff and intellect.
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Without the team saying the specific words “can’t miss,” that is the description conjured by many when they read and hear about all your attributes.
But after being ranked as a consensus top-40 prospect and the best pitcher in the Braves’ farm system, Kyle Wright went 0-7 with a 7.86 ERA in his first 16 major-league games, including nine starts sprinkled across three major-league seasons. And suddenly “can’t miss” became “bust” to many in a social-media-fueled fan base where patience is as rare these days as a 250-inning season from a pitcher.
That’s why Sunday felt even more significant for Wright than the first win typically does for a young pitcher.
On a sunny day in D.C., the former elite prospect put it together and held it together for six innings in a performance that, if not his best statistically, was his most impressive and important for him and a Braves team beset by starting-rotation woes and pining for more young starters to assert themselves as Mike Soroka and Max Fried did last year and Ian Anderson has this season.
Eighteen days shy of his 25th birthday and just more than two years after his major-league debut, Wright earned his first big-league win Sunday in an 8-4 series-clinching victory over the Nationals and veteran ace Max Scherzer, a pitcher Wright has admired for years. Wright (1-4) was charged with eight hits, including two bunt singles and a broken-bat blooper, four runs (three earned) and two walks with four strikeouts.
“It’s really cool to know that I’ve finally got one,” Wright said of the win, which also got him a round of congratulations from teammates in the postgame clubhouse and a presentation of the lineup card from manager Brian Snitker. “Definitely took a little longer than I would’ve liked but happy to get one today. And just more so getting a (team) win in general.
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“It was definitely pretty cool to finally get that one and get the monkey off the back.”
The first-place Braves got a pair of two-run homers from surging Adam Duvall and Ozzie Albies in a four-pitch span against a tiring Scherzer in the sixth inning, turning a two-run deficit into a 6-4 lead, on the way to their third win in the four-game series. It was the start of a three-city, 10-game trip that’s their final one of the regular season, with the Braves set to open a series at Baltimore beginning Monday.
The Nationals threatened in the sixth, getting the potential tying runs on base after consecutive two-out singles, but Wright coaxed an inning-ending pop fly from Victor Robles to preserve the lead.
Snitker was thrilled to see Wright stay aggressive and retain the confidence to go after hitters, instead of trying to be too fine and avoid contact as he has done in the past.
“He attacked with his fastball, which is really, really good,” Snitker said. “The slider wasn’t great again today, but his curveball was a good pitch for him and change(up). I just liked how he used his fastball and like I say, he went to the curve, and it was a good pitch for him. It was good to see him get out of that last inning, too, when the game’s in his hands. I think that was a good experience for him.”
After getting word that veteran Cole Hamels is set to make his long-awaited debut this week — he missed spring training, summer camp and the season’s first seven weeks due to arm ailments — then seeing Anderson turn in his third superb start in four Saturday and watching Wright’s tough-minded performance Sunday in which he overcame uncharacteristic infield errors, Snitker seemed more upbeat than recently about his team’s shot at a third straight division title and a deep postseason run.
With 13 games left on their schedule, the Braves (28-19) have a 3 1/2-game lead over the second-place Miami Marlins in the NL East and four-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. The 2019 World Series champion Nationals are in last place, 10 games behind the Braves.
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“We’ve had some really positive things happen in the last four days, just with the rotation,” Snitker said. “And like I said, getting Ozzie back. I like where we’re at. The bullpen, it’s good to see those guys step up today. We had a bunch of mainline guys down that we’ve been counting on a lot in the bullpen and those guys did a great job piecing that thing together.”
After Duvall hit his majors-leading ninth homer of September, a mammoth game-tying two-run homer off the back wall of the center-field hitter’s eye backdrop, Nationals manager Dave Martinez let Scherzer continue. Austin Riley muscled a single to shallow right off the bat handle before Albies pulled a two-run homer to right field that gave the Braves the 6-4 lead and ended Scherzer’s 119-pitch day.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner had 10 strikeouts but allowed nine hits and six runs as the Braves handed him his ninth loss in 25 starts against Atlanta, his most starts and most losses against any team.
The Braves fouled off 28 of Scherzer’s 103 pitches in the first five innings.
“You’ve just got to stay on and after a guy like that,” Snitker said. “He is so relentless and such a competitor, you can’t ever take a pitch off. And our guys did a great job of grinding at-bats, fouling balls off, getting balls to hit. And they beat a really good pitcher.”
Albies has hit .364 (8-for-22) with a double, two homers, five RBIs and three stolen bases in five games since returning from a five-week stint on the injured list for a right-wrist bone bruise. His return to the lineup has turned what was already the highest-scoring offense in baseball into arguably the deepest current lineup in the league and perhaps all of MLB, considering injuries some other teams are dealing with.
Nick Markakis’ 75 plate appearances against Scherzer are the most by anyone against the right-hander, and Markakis’ 23 hits also are the most “Mad Max” has allowed. Markakis had two hits against Scherzer on Sunday, an RBI double in the fourth inning that gave the Braves a short-lived 2-1 lead and a single in the sixth that started the four-batter, four-run flurry.
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The Nationals had taken a 4-2 lead in the fifth after beginning the inning with three singles to load the bases, the second one a broken-bat hit to shallow center that was followed by an Adam Eaton bunt single. This is the point where things have tended to unravel for Wright in the past when situations got sticky and he lost his composure.
The opposite occurred Sunday. Wright induced a would-be double-play grounder by the next hitter, Trea Turner. Albies stepped on second before making an off-target throw to Freddie Freeman that bounced off the first baseman’s glove. Two runs scored on the play, but Wright, after intentionally walking Juan Soto to set up another double-play grounder, got what he needed — another grounder to Albies, who this time completed the double play.
“I feel like that’s been a big one for me for a while,” Wright said of his past issues. “I feel like at times when I’ve gotten in trouble, things have just continued to speed up and gotten more out of whack, whereas today I was able to make a pitch, and we’ve got a good defense, and we turned a double play to get out of that. So I think for me it’s just believing that you’re always one pitch away, you can get out of it at any moment. Especially with the defense we have.
“Any time they can turn double plays, track balls down in the outfield. I’ve just got to continue to pitch. (It’s a) big confidence booster going forward.”
A two-run deficit isn’t daunting to this explosive Braves lineup, especially not with four innings to go. Even against Scherzer, whom the Braves actually have had plenty of success against during the past couple of seasons (this was the first time they faced him in 2020).
The esteemed Nationals pitcher became their latest comeback victim Sunday, and Wright came away with a win and the confidence that comes with working out of jams or minimizing damage when it looks like the bottom might fall out.
“It’s great,” Snitker said of the experience. “Any time they get in those situations like that, and they feel those situations, like I say in the sixth inning when the game’s his, and the go-ahead run’s at the plate and two outs, and you get that deciding out, you can’t replicate that. When you feel that, I think that’s just another step in the learning process.”
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Though Josh Tomlin didn’t pitch Sunday, the Braves veteran again had an impact. It was Tomlin who recently suggested to Wright that he move to the left side of the pitching rubber and explained to Wright why it could improve some pitches, particularly making Wright’s two-seam (sinker) more effective by covering more of the plate.
“I like that I’ve moved over, and today I had a good feel for my slider and my curveball,” Wright said. “Even threw some good changeups at times. Left a couple (up), but for the most part, I had a good feel of everything, and because of that, my pitches were able to hold the plate longer. My two-seam was good. I think it’s definitely been a big help.”
On Saturday, Anderson overcame a two-walk second inning, retiring 18 of the final 19 batters he faced in becoming just the second pitcher of MLB’s modern era to allow one or no hits in six innings or more twice in his first four starts. And Anderson, too, credited tips from Tomlin.
In the season of COVID-19, Braves starting pitchers generally are allowed to go home or are sent back to the hotel on nights they’re not pitching. But during home games, Anderson and Tomlin have sat together in the stands, watching the games and talking about pitching.
“I talk to him all the time about what he sees, how he tries to get through the lineup,” Anderson said. “I think everyone else on the staff will tell you the same thing: He’s a huge part of the pitching staff. He just reached 10 years (service) time yesterday actually, so congratulations to him on that. That’s really all you need to know, that he knows what he’s talking about and how to do it.”
Anderson was 18 when Wright served as Anderson’s host for the then-top recruit’s visit to Vanderbilt in 2016. Anderson spurned college and opted instead to sign with the Braves after they selected him third overall in the 2016 draft. A year later, the Braves took Wright fifth after his junior year at Vanderbilt.
Now they’re pitching on the same team, with Anderson a resounding rookie success story with his 3-0 record and 1.64 ERA through his first four starts. It has taken Wright longer to get any traction in the big leagues. For the first time in his baseball life, he has experienced failure. Plenty of it.
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“It hasn’t been fun,” Wright said. “I’ve had success, so it’s kind of kept me sane in a way from not getting (a win until Sunday). It just took a lot longer than expected. I felt like I kind of got away from myself for a little bit. Now I’m slowly getting back to where I need to be. Still got a long way to go, but definitely like the way that I’m trending.”
He showed Sunday why the Braves have stayed more patient with him than a lot of their followers have.
“We’ve been force-feeding him, too,” Snitker said, defending Wright’s bumpy road to Sunday. “He hasn’t been in the minor leagues a long time. He’s got great stuff. He’s still learning. He’s experiencing things, and he’s figuring himself out. And it’s really good. Because I’ve had multiple talks with him about how good his stuff is, how good he can be.
“I mean, he doesn’t have to take a backseat to anybody, and you saw it today.”
Not even Scherzer could relegate Wright to the backseat on this day.
“I’ve always been a big Max Scherzer fan,” Wright said. “I’ve watched him a ton in college and still now. Definitely pretty cool to get the win against him. But I’m just trying to get better.”
(Photo: Rafael Suanes / USA Today)