PHOENIX -- There’s still reason to be concerned about the Braves’ starting pitching depth. But you can also acknowledge that the rotation has been the team’s most encouraging aspect through the season’s first week.
One night after Reynaldo López provided further reason to think he is healthy, Grant Holmes did the same. Holmes carried a no-hit bid into the sixth inning and saw his effort rewarded when Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson hit back-to-back ninth-inning home runs to give the Braves a 2-0 win over the D-backs on Friday night at Chase Field.
“When you get good starts, the game tends to just fall into place,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
Albies halted a pitchers’ duel when he greeted D-backs closer Paul Sewald with a home run that stayed inside the right-field foul pole. Olson followed Albies’ go-ahead shot by drilling a 2-0 fastball over the left-center-field wall. This marked the first time the Braves have hit back-to-back home runs this season.
Olson, Albies and Drake Baldwin each have an OPS above .950. But while the offense has shown its potential, the pitching staff is a big reason the Braves have won six of their first eight games. They lead the National League with a 2.06 starting pitching ERA and their bullpen has allowed four earned runs over 28 1/3 innings (1.27 ERA).
“[The pitchers] have been great,” Olson said. “They’ve been, if not keeping us in games, they’ve been dominating it for us.”
The Braves and Yankees have both recorded three shutout wins thus far. The most recent Atlanta team to have blanked an opponent three times through a season’s first eight games was the 1993 club that got shutouts in games started by Greg Maddux, Pete Smith and John Smoltz.
But before praising the pitchers, it’s worth noting that Jonah Heim has been the starting catcher in each of this year’s three shutouts. The veteran catcher has repeatedly drawn praise from Weiss.
“It’s not an accident,” Weiss said. “He’s a pro back there.”
These early results have alleviated some of the fears created when four different Atlanta starters were injured in Spring Training. Adding to the worries was the fact that some uncertainty surrounded López and Holmes as they returned from season-ending injuries.
But both have looked good during their first two starts of the season.
“There's always concern when guys have missed big chunks of time the previous year, especially pitchers,” Weiss said. “How are they going to bounce back? They've been great so far. I can't be more pleased with our starting pitching.”
Holmes missed the final two months of the 2025 season because of elbow discomfort. An MRI showed a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and a partially torn flexor tendon in his right elbow. He has said he believes the UCL tear may have been preexisting and he just needed time to allow the flexor tendon to heal.
Early indications are that Holmes' theory is correct. He averaged 95.2 mph with his four-seamer and touched 96.9 mph twice on Friday night. More importantly, he completed six scoreless innings and kept the D-backs hitless until Ketel Marte singled with one out in the sixth.
“He looks like nothing happened last year,” Albies said. “He was pumping 96 up. At one point, I looked over at Olson and said, ‘He’s throwing 96.’ It’s great to see.”
It’s great for the Braves to see and it’s great for Holmes to feel like himself again. His offseason dedication to strengthening his forearms has allowed him to go through this season’s first week even more confident that he will remain a reliable and valuable part of Atlanta’s rotation.
“I feel like each game, it will just keep getting better,” Holmes said.