A Saturday night thriller had a little bit of everything, but in the end, some batted ball fortune went the Braves’ way as they yoinked out a 5-4, extra-inning win over the Houston Astros.
If you like pitching duels, this game had a lot to offer you. The Spencer Strider-Cristian Javier matchup went pretty much as advertised, with both righty strikeout artists mostly carving up the other side. Strider retired the first 11 batters he faced before losing the perfect game and no-hitter on a weakly-hit tapper from Kyle Tucker. The Astros didn’t actually do any damage against Strider until the fifth, when Jeremy Pena took a get-me-over 3-1 fastball and hit it not-particularly-well-but-well-enough-to-get-over-the-wall-in-right for a solo homer.