Grant Holmes went into this evening’s spring training start against the Pittsburgh Pirates having not given up a single run across two starts and three appearances. He’s now up to three starts and four appearances without giving up a run so far through spring training and his fourth appearance here in camp was probably the best one of them all so far.
Holmes ended up going five innings in this one against a lineup that very likely won’t look too much different from the one that the Pirates will be
rolling out there in a couple of weeks for Opening Day. Holmes struck out Spencer Horowitz to start this one and then followed that up by walking Ryan O’Hearn. That was as good as it got for the Pirates against Holmes as he completely dominated Pittsburgh from this point forward. Holmes got former Braves DH Marcell Ozuna to fly out to end the inning after racking up his second strikeout of the frame and that was the start of a very productive outing for him.
All six pitches from Grant Holmes were put on display on this one — that includes the sinker that Holmes has apparently been working on throughout the offseason and during camp as well. As you can tell by the fact that Holmes didn’t give up a single hit and only had to deal with one baserunner throughout the time that he was on the mound on Thursday evening, each of those six pitches were working like a charm for him in this one.
The Pirates were unable to do much of anything about what Grant Holmes was delivering from the mound tonight and the swings-and-misses were further proof of that. They were also proof that his slider was the key to befuddling Pittsburgh’s batters in this one — of the nine strikeouts that Holmes racked up during this game, eight of them came from a slider. This was one of those outings that made me think “Dude, save some of that for the regular season!” Spring training or not, this was a fantastic performance from Grant Holmes and if he can bring that with him to the regular season then there will be a lot of happy campers here watching Holmes pitch.
As far as the Braves go, that was basically the sparkling highlight of the night. The Pirates started Bubba Chandler (the No. 2 pitching prospect in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline) in this one and he absolutely lived up to the lofty status that he’s already achieved during his time on the farm. Chandler got his evening started by getting Michael Harris II to ground out on a 99-mph fastball that was inside and that basically set the tone for what came next. As good as Grant Holmes was in this one, Bubba Chandler wasn’t too far behind.
Chandler also went five innings in this one and struck out eight batters while only giving up one hit and one walk. Fortunately for the Braves, the one hit that he gave up ended up being a long ball. Former Twins prospect Jair Camargo has been having a very quiet spring training for the Braves so far and he was down 0-2 to Chandler in this AB before he got a hold of a slider and sent it flying onto the party deck out there in left field for a solo shot that put the Braves on the board and in the lead.
Fast forward to the sixth inning and we got to see a truly rare sight: A Michael Harris II walk. The free pass at the expense of Pirates pitcher Evan Sisk ended up being the start of something, as Money Mike stole second base and then eventually made it home on an RBI single from Kyle Farmer. Farmer’s single continues to bolster his care for making a roster spot while Michael Harris II’s fourth walk of spring training so far ended up paying off in dividends a little bit down the road.
The Braves led 2-0 at that point but ended up losing 5-2 after the Pirates ended up plating five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning due to a mixture of a rough outing from Blayne Enlow and a pair of backbreaking errors that allowed Pittsburgh to flip the game upside down. As a result, the Pirates were able to knock the Braves off of their lofty perch in the prestigious Grapefruit League as Atlanta fell to 12-5 with a couple of ties to their name.
With that being said, the most important takeaway here is that Grant Holmes appears to be champing at the bit to get out there for the regular season. He looked excellent on the mound today and has been locked in all spring. Sure, it may be spring training but he’s certainly looking the part when it comes to regular season readiness. We’ll see you tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET when the Braves welcome the Yankees to North Port.
