Welcome back, old friend.
There may not be an opposing player in baseball who Braves fans are more united in rooting for than Michael Soroka, who will start Tuesday night’s game at Truist Park against Spencer Schwellenbach.
It will be Soroka’s first appearance at Truist Park since 2023 as he continues his recovery from a double torn Achilles that he first suffered in 2020 and again in 2021. I’m sure the Braves will have something cooked up in pre-game warmups on the video board.
Soroka signed a one year deal worth $9 million with the Nationals in the offseason and suffered a biceps strain in his first start of the year on March 31, missing the entire month of April as a result. He returned from the IL last week and pitched decently against the Guardians for five innings, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks. Soroka did strike out eight batters, an encouraging sign that his stuff will continue to move and confuse hitters the way it did throughout spring training where he turned some heads.
As for Schwellenbach, he’ll look for another strong start after pitching well against the Reds last week. Schwellenbach’s had some ups and downs in his first full season in the majors, but he owns 3.61 ERA / 4.00 xERA / 3.37 FIP / 3.16 xFIP through eight starts. The Nationals lineup is in a bit of a funk right now; let’s hope Spencer can keep it going.
First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET. You can watch and listen to the game in all the usual places.