DENVER -- Spencer Strider had a mixed bag in his season debut Sunday, walking five and striking out six in 3 1/3 innings on the hill in the Braves' 11-6 win over the Rockies at Coors Field. He started the season on the injured list with a left oblique muscle strain.
Strider struggled in the first two innings, allowing a run on a walk, a steal and a run-scoring single in the first frame, then loading the bases with a single and two walks in the second before inducing a bases-loaded flyout to right from Hunter Goodman to end the inning. He threw 27 pitches in the first inning and 28 in the second.
The Braves put three runs on the board in the top of the second behind homers from Jonah Heim and Jorge Mateo on back-to-back pitches.
Strider gave up a Statcast-projected 423-foot leadoff homer to TJ Rumfield in the third, adding a walk and a strikeout. He opened the fourth allowing a leadoff triple to Jake McCarthy, then struck out leadoff hitter Edouard Julien for the second time before manager Walt Weiss removed him after his 87th pitch, with Atlanta leading 3-2 with a man on third and one out.
Reliever Aaron Bummer gave up a two-run homer to Mickey Moniak, losing the lead and adding a run to Strider’s tally.
The Braves bounced back by scoring five runs across the fifth and sixth innings. Heim gave Atlanta some extra insurance in the ninth, doubling home a pair of runs during a five-RBI performance.
Strider entered the day with a 2-0 record and an 0.50 ERA in three career starts against the Rockies, allowing just one run in 18 innings.
After his March injury, Strider made three rehab starts in April with High-A Rome (3 1/3 innings) and Triple-A Gwinnett (9 1/3 innings), allowing two runs in 12 2/3 innings for a 1.42 ERA with 18 strikeouts.
Before his injury during Spring Training, he was 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA (three runs over 8 1/3 innings) with two walks and 11 strikeouts.
Strider is trying to regain the form he showed in 2023, when he was the only 20-game winner in the Majors and tallied an MLB-leading 281 strikeouts before suffering a left elbow injury that led to season-ending surgery on April 12, 2024.