The Atlanta Braves have a good one in Spencer Strider, who flashed his mighty form again Wednesday night against the Cincinnati Reds at home. Although he gave up three earned runs on four hits in 5.0 innings of work, he left the mound with nine Reds victims via strikeouts. In other words, he is just a 9-strikeout performance in his next start away from matching a feat not seen in Atlanta history since the 90s, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info.

“Spencer Strider struck out 9 Reds batters in 5 innings of work, his 7th straight start with 9 or more K. Only John Smoltz has a longer such streak in Braves history, going 8 straight starts with 9+ K from July-August, 1997.”

Prior to his start versus the Reds, Spencer Strider already had two outings this season in which he fanned nine hitters each. He made his season debut on Apr. 1 when he fooled nine Washington Nationals hitters for strikeouts while allowing zero earned runs on three hits in six innings of a 7-1 victory. He followed that up with another sterling start, punching out nine San Diego Padres batters while allowing three earned runs on four hits in five innings of a 7-6 victory.

After leaving the mound against the Reds, Spencer Strider now has 27 strikeouts on the season to go with a 3.38 ERA. There's still some job to do for Strider to come up with cleaner performances, given the six earned runs he's allowed in 16.0 total innings of work, but he's definitely one pitcher who can be so tough to deal with when he finds his rhythm.