On Tuesday evening, the Atlanta Braves lost their second straight game with a 2-0 road defeat against their divisional rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. It was the second start of the season for pitcher Spencer Strider, who has worked his way back from an injury that forced him to miss the majority of the 2024 season.

The game against the Phillies was a solid outing for Strider, who threw seven strikeouts and allowed just one earned run, although he did walk four batters.

After the game, Braves manager Brian Snitker got 100% real on what he saw from the young star pitcher.

“It takes a while,” said Snitker, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. “They’ve got to be patient. We’ve got to be patient. But today was better than the last one. Hopefully, the next one is a little better than this one. He gave us a chance to win.”

Snitker pitched 4.2 innings and did more than enough to help Atlanta get a win, but unfortunately, the Braves' offense never woke up in this one, which has started to become a theme over the last couple of weeks.

Big reinforcements for the Braves

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (99) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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In addition to the return of Strider, the Braves also got superstar and 2023 NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. back from the torn ACL that kept him out for the second half of last season.

Acuna wasted no time rounding back into form, crushing the first pitch he saw into the seats for a home run, and then following that up with another home run the following game.

Unfortunately, the Braves are now 1-3 in games that Acuna has played so far this year, although they have been against two elite teams in the San Diego Padres and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Braves now sit at 25-28, in danger of losing some of the ground they had made up in the NL standings after their abysmal 0-7 start to the year.

The Braves will look to get back in the win column in Game 2 of their series vs the Phillies on Wednesday evening at 6:45 PM ET from Philadelphia.