Hurston Waldrep got his first “regular” start as a member of the 2025 Atlanta Braves rotation, and it looked a lot like his other two “irregular” outings — one as a bulk guy in a resumed game, one in a doubleheader — even better, in fact. He dominated the anemic Cleveland offense as part of a 2-0 win. The Guardians have been on fire since ending a ten-game losing streak in early July; this was their first shutout loss since the ninth game of that losing streak back on July 5.
Early in the game, it didn’t quite look like Waldrep was going to cruise, as his infield defense made a lot of nice plays behind him. He had a 1/1 K/BB ratio through the first 12 batters he faced, until finally tipping it in a positive direction in the fourth when he issued his second walk but struck out two in a row to end the inning. It was really within that sequence that he picked it up, as he struck out two more in the fifth and then another two to end the sixth, working around a leadoff single in the process. His last five strikeouts all came on the splitter; he threw only seven his first time through, before unloading a bunch more in the middle innings — 14 his second time through, and six to the four batters he faced in the sixth. It’s a testament to the development of his other pitches that he was able to reserve the splitter and then give hitters headaches with it once they had seen the other stuff.
On the offensive end, this was a quiet game all-around. The Braves scored two runs — one on a bases loaded walk, and one insurance run when Michael Harris II knocked in pinch-runner Eli White in the ninth. The bigger “distinction” of the game was that the Braves somehow made five outs on the bases in this one, yet still won:
But hey, none of that mattered, because Waldrep was great, and a bullpen effort of Daysbel Hernandez, Tyler Kinley, and Raisel Iglesias wiped the floor with the remains of the Guardians’ outs. Seriously, the Guardians had just four baserunners in this one: two walks from Waldrep to Kyle Manzardo, and two hits by Steven Kwan. All of those came with Waldrep pitching, as the Atlanta bullpen went nine up, nine down.
Guardians started Joey Cantillo was uneven at best, as the Braves successfully-ish deployed their “ahahahaha walkssssss” approach and drew four of them, including one with the bases loaded that came in a bizarre sequence where, in the middle of the PA, there was a delay due to someone entering the field. It didn’t help Cantillo regain his exposure, as he ultimately walked Nacho Alvarez Jr. to drive in the first run of the game. Nick Allen then inexplicably swung at the first pitch (did he forget he was Nick Allen?) to end the frame.
The Braves will continue their spoiler-slash-thread-the-needle-located-in-the-wreckage-of-that-weird-submarine-disaster-from-a-few-years-ago-to-make-the-playoffs quest tomorrow.