Mike Soroka and Jacob deGrom treated everyone to a good old-fashioned pitcher’s duel but a home run by Yoenis Cespedes in the seventh inning proved to be the difference in a 1-0 loss.
Soroka was magnificent as he became the youngest pitcher in Braves history to start on Opening Day. He struggled with his command slightly at the start but a pair of double plays got him out of trouble. He would retire six in a row before Jeff McNeil doubled down the right field line in the fourth. McNeil was originally ruled out on an impressive throw by Ronald Acuña Jr. in right but the call was overturned by replay. However, McNeil would be retired when Pete Alonso grounded to short where Dansby Swanson threw to Austin Riley at third to nab McNeil. Soroka would then retire Michael Conforto to end the inning.
Soroka got some more help from his defense in the fifth as Ender Inciarte ran down a deep drive by J.D. Davis and made a leaping catch at the wall.
Not exactly a Game Ender, but still pretty cool pic.twitter.com/RLlG6ndSpf
— Talking Chop (@TalkingChop) July 24, 2020
DeGrom was dominant in his own right holding the Braves to just a broken bat single by Acuña. He would exit in the fifth having allowed one hit while striking out eight on 72 pitches.
New York got a leadoff single from Amed Rosario in the sixth but Soroka left him stranded striking out Alonso to end the inning. That would be it for Soroka who would exit having allowed four hits over six shutout innings to go along with three strikeouts. He threw 69 pitches with 48 landing in the strike zone.
The Braves threatened in the seventh when Marcell Ozuna doubled with one out off of Seth Lugo and then advanced to third on a passed ball. However, Lugo recovered getting Matt Adams to ground to first and then striking out Riley to leave Ozuna stranded at third.
Chris Martin replaced Soroka in the seventh and retired Conforto to open the inning but then allowed a long home run to Yoenis Cespedes to push the first run across the plate.
Atlanta got the leadoff man on again in the eighth on a bloop single by Swanson but he was left stranded as Justin Wilson struck out Acuña to end the frame. Edwin Diaz allowed a one out walk to Freeman in the ninth but struck out Ozuna and Adams to end the game.
Atlanta struggled offensively finishing with just three hits, two walks and 15 strikeouts. They will try again on Saturday when the two teams meet again with Max Fried squaring off against Steven Matz