Spencer Strider, Braves look to complete sweep of Mets

After another comeback win Wednesday night, the Atlanta Braves will try to complete the sweep when they wrap up a three-game series against the New York Mets. Spencer Strider will get the start for Atlanta while the Mets will go with right-hander Justin Verlander.

Atlanta rallied from a 4-1 deficit for the second straight night Wednesday to pull off a 7-5 win. Michael Harris snapped out of a season-long slump with three hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth that put Atlanta in front for good. The Braves have won four straight games while the Mets have dropped five-straight to fall 7.5 games back in the NL East standings.

Strider comes into Thursday’s start tied for the major league lead in strikeouts with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman, who has started one more game and logged 12 1/3 more innings. Strider has put together an excellent start to the season and is among the early favorites for the Cy Young Award in the National League. He allowed three hits and two runs over six innings in his last start in Arizona. He did issue a season-high four walks, but struck out seven and has totaled at least seven strikeouts in all 12 of his starts this season. He faced the Mets back on May 1 in New York and allowed five hits, four runs and struck out eight in five innings.

Verlander missed all of April due to a teres major muscle strain that he suffered prior to Opening Day. He will make his seventh start of the season and his first against Atlanta since 2016. Verlander has had an up and down start and has been really good at times and really bad at others. He threw a season-high 117 pitches in his last start where he allowed five hits, three walks and one run over six innings against the Blue Jays.

Harris came into Wednesday’s game just 15-for-100 since returning from the injured list on April 28. He had a bunt single in the third, a game-tying double in the sixth and the go-ahead homer in the eighth. He also made a highlight catch on a deep fly ball by Mark Canha in the eighth. Harris hit the ball hard at times on the previous road trip, so it was good to see him finally get some hits to fall in. Sean Murphy hit is his 12th home run of the season and is tied with Ronald Acuña Jr. for fourth place in the majors with 2.9 fWAR.

Thursday’s game has a scheduled start time of 7:20 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports South.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Thursday, June 8, 7:20 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: Bally Sports South

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan