ATLANTA — This was the kind of game the Atlanta Braves and their fans missed for so much of the 2024 season and the early portion of this one, when ace right-hander Spencer Strider and/or star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. were missing or limited due to injuries, or not in the form that had made them so effective in 2023.
For the first time in 2025, it all came together for Atlanta with both of those key Braves on the field Saturday afternoon at Truist Park.
Strider recorded 13 strikeouts in his first win of the season, Acuña stayed hot with two hits, including a two-run homer, and the Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 4-1 a day after rallying from a three-run deficit to run away to a 12-4 victory in the series opener for their season high in scoring.
The loss left the Rockies with the worst record through 70 games in Major League Baseball’s modern era. Colorado, now 13-57 and 28 games out of first place in the National League West Division, surpassed the 1932 Boston Red Sox, who were 14-56, for the worst 70-game mark since 1901
The Rockies set a franchise record for a nine-inning game by striking out 19 times. The 19 strikeouts were also a nine-inning record for Atlanta pitchers as Strider’s baker’s dozen was followed by four from Rafael Montero in two innings of relief and one by Dylan Lee in the ninth.