Braves finally reach .500 by beating old friend Michael Soroka and the Nats

Until the injuries.

The story has been told dozens of times, but it really is wild: Soroka went from All-Star and potential future Cy Young Award winner to injured afterthought. Once a part of the team’s present and future, he became a small trade piece as the Braves dealt him to the White Sox in the Aaron Bummer deal before last season.

And on Tuesday, the Braves beat Soroka and the Nationals, 5-2, to reach .500 for the first time this season. Before this victory, the Braves had four chances to get to .500 … and lost every time. Fifth time’s the charm, apparently.

“I’ve been aware of that, too,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Because I think we were eight under, actually, at one point. I think it’s just a testament to the guys, man, how they never quit. They never stopped just doing their jobs, and coming into work and preparing and playing the game the right way. It’s good. It’s not a big deal, but it kind of is. We’ve got so much more baseball to play, but just that hole we dug ourselves, and to think that in 42 games we got this thing back even, is pretty good.

The Braves, per Elias Sports Bureau, are only the fifth team in history to begin the season 0-7 and rebound to reach .500 – and only one of those teams evened its record prior to the 42nd game of the season.

The Braves began this year 0-7. After 18 games, they were eight games under .500.

Eight!

Now, they are back even at 21-21 – which is extremely impressive considering the injuries they’ve had and everything else that’s gone wrong.

“It wasn’t gonna happen overnight,” Riley said. “We were gonna take it day by day. Tonight was huge.”

Back to Soroka. Tuesday served as the latest reminder that life can be cruel and unpredictable, and nothing is certain – especially in sports. At one point, Soroka was one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. Now he’s simply trying to prove he can be a reliable and valuable starter again.

On this night, he took the Truist Park mound for the bottom of the first. His outing lasted only four innings. He allowed two runs, both on a two-run homer by rookie Drake Baldwin – who was not teammates with Soroka here. This was not the Soroka spectacle to which Braves fans became accustomed earlier in his career with Atlanta.

“It was exciting,” Soroka said of being back here. “Obviously, it’s been a while since I’ve been over here and took that mound. There’s not a ton of guys over there that I played with all those years back then, but there’s still certainly some that I came up with and made good memories with. But definitely wanted to give them my best tonight, and felt like we did that. Just kind of got away from me a little bit and let the pitches rack up.”

Over those four innings, Soroka threw 81 pitches. He gave up four hits, issued one walk and struck out four. He navigated the Braves’ lineup well, but they drove up his pitch count. He still has not notched a pitching win since leaving the Braves.

And when he mentioned wanting to give the Braves his best? He did – in one way. In the bottom of the first inning, he threw Austin Riley four-seam fastballs of 97.2 mph and 97.1 mph, which were the hardest fastballs of his career.

“I set out to make sure I gave them my best tonight,” Soroka said. “Obviously, Austin’s one of the guys that I came up with, and I wasn’t going to let him beat me on anything but my best.”

Riley hit an infield single and advanced to second on an error. Asked after the game about facing Soroka, it was clear Riley is still fond of his old friend.

“I tried to give him a little courtesy (nod), but he had his head down, he was focused,” Riley said. “I always pull for Mikey. Every memory that I have in the minor leagues is with Soroka. I’ll always wish the best for him. It was kind of cool to share the field with him again.”

Soroka felt he could’ve made better pitches with two strikes, especially in the fourth inning. In that frame, he threw Baldwin a full-count slider – the seventh pitch of the at-bat – away. But it stayed a bit up, and Baldwin made him by hitting it over the brick wall in right field.

“With Soroka, it’s tough because he has that four-seam at the top (of the zone), so you can’t really only sit slider or even be looking slider because that four-seam will beat you,” Baldwin said. “Just trying to shorten up. It wasn’t that bad of a pitch. It was kind of backdoor there. It just kind of got me going over the plate. …Just tried to throw the barrel at it.”

“I think it was the right pitch called, but kind of got on the outside of it a little bit and stayed up,” Soroka said. “So, credit to him for going down and getting it. Balls like to get out to that part of the park. Could’ve made one better pitch. That whole inning with two strikes, could’ve been out of it before him. It was just a good piece of hitting and next time, probably need to make sure he sees something else.”

In the fifth, with Soroka out of the game, Riley singled home a run. In the sixth, Eli White singled home another. Spencer Schwellenbach allowed two runs over seven innings. Dylan Lee pitched a scoreless eighth. Pierce Johnson recorded the save. (Closer Raisel Iglesias pitched the last two days.)

Soroka was a fan-favorite early in his career. Now, it feels like he’s just another pitcher who used to don a Braves uniform. Sure, many Braves fans hoped he would return to form after the injuries – and they probably even wish him well now. But because of the injuries, he never built the on-field legacy of Freeman, Swanson or Fried.

Soroka first tore his Achilles tendon in his right foot in 2020. In 2021, he tore the surgically repaired tendon while walking into the home clubhouse at Truist Park – awful luck. He didn’t make it back to the majors until 2023. He pitched in seven games – six of them starts – for Atlanta, then missed the final month of the season due to right forearm inflammation.

The Braves traded him to the White Sox that offseason.

Tuesday marked his first time pitching against his old team. He knows these guys. He debuted after Ozzie Albies, Swanson and Fried, but before Riley. He spent time in the minors with them. They were all part of a promising future core.

The others lived up to that.

Soroka, due to poor luck, did not – at least not with the Braves. Maybe he can still carve out a nice career for himself. This season, he has allowed 10 earned runs over 14 innings across three starts – good for a 6.43 ERA. He’s already been on the injured list, this time with a biceps strain. But he has a spot in Washington’s starting rotation, which means he has an opportunity.

“I have a lot of admiration for him and how he handled everything,” Snitker said before the game of Soroka’s Atlanta tenure. “He’s been through a little bit of everything. The setbacks and how he handled that, and going through his rehab to get himself back pitching. Yeah, he went from being an All-Star to battling those injuries. So I’m happy that he’s back. Because the kid likes to pitch, and he’s determined and he’s dedicated to what he’s doing, and put a lot of time in to get back to where he is now.”

But he’s an opponent now. And the Braves were looking to get back to .500. Soroka was in their way.

Now they’re back at even, and looking to continue their rise.

“We just started playing baseball the way we were capable of,” Snitker said. “It was a rough start, obviously. But I’m proud of how the guys have hung in there – how they hung in there during that time and allowed themselves to get back now. I mean, we’re .500. It’s kind of cool, but it doesn’t mean anything. But we’re just playing better, more consistent. We’re still a ways away from hitting on all cylinders, but I kind of feel like, ‘Well, maybe that’s good that we can do what we did to get back there’ – and still, as I’ve said many times, I think our best baseball is ahead of us.”