Bryce Elder strikes out four in win over Padres

Elder struck out five and walked one as Atlanta went on to win 5-3. The right-hander needed just 75 pitches to record 18 outs, but he’d struggled badly lately, so it makes sense that he wasn’t pushed. He came into Sunday with a 6.29 ERA over his previous 12 starts dating back to May 27. This was a step in the right direction, but there’s little reason for fantasy managers to trust him, with a trip to Milwaukee up next.

Give Elder some credit: he looked like he ought to have been done after throwing 77 pitches while giving up five in the first and one more in both the second and third, but he was able to help protect the pen by pitching two scoreless innings afterwards. It’s the third time this year that Elder has allowed at least six earned runs, and two of those have come in his only two starts versus the Mets. He’ll take an 8-7 record and a 4.03 ERA into a start Sunday against the D-backs.

Elder was in complete control for this entire start. He retired 12 of the first 13 batters he faced before the Marlins scratched their lone run across in the fifth on a walk, double, and groundout. Then, he cruised through his final two frames to complete seven innings for the first time in nearly three months. He used his cutter to force a heap of lazy pop-ups and put this strong outing together while only forcing four total swings-and-misses. He now has a 3.69 ERA through 126 2/3 innings this season and is scheduled for a two-start week against the Mets and Diamondbacks coming up.

Sale won’t start at all against Miami, and instead is being pushed back to the weekend series against the Yankees. Atlanta will instead push up the other arms in the rotation, so Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder and Martin Perez will be the arms who go instead. It’s disappointing Sale won’t get a two-start week this late in the fantasy season, but understandable.

This was one of the starts where it’s hard to believe Elder only let up one run. The Nationals were all over him for 10 hard-hit balls, but a fair chunk of those were hit on the ground. Still, they looked remarkably comfortable in the box all night and rarely chased any pitches out of the strike zone. He did his job though and got both a win and quality start out of it. Elder closed out July with a 3.00 ERA across 21 innings with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks after pitching to a 8.10 ERA in June. He’s scheduled to face the Marlins at home next time out.

Elder gave up four hits, walked four and struck out eight. With one out in the third inning, Pete Alonso reached on an error. After a strikeout that would’ve ended the inning had it not been for the error, Elder allowed back-to-back singles that produced an unearned run. In the fifth inning, Elder allowed a solo home run to Gunnar Henderson. He has a 3.96 ERA this year. Elder is lined up to face the Nationals at home next Thursday.

Elder was spotted six runs of support in Atlanta’s first four innings, but couldn’t qualify for the win after giving up three homers to the Pirates. Elder carries an 8.47 ERA over his last seven starts and the magic appears to be gone for the moment. Mixed leaguers don’t have to roster him through this stretch, though he should continue to get plenty of run support.

That means Bryce Elder will get the ball for one of the final two games of the series with Grant Holmes likely to draw the starting assignment in the other. Elder had his previous start skipped for some extra rest. Waldrep authored a strong performance against the Cardinals last week, allowing three runs over 5 1/3 innings, during his first start of the season. He offers enough strikeout upside to be interesting in deeper fantasy leagues.

Elder will get some additional time off to recover after experiencing some diminished velocity during his last start against the Giants where he allowed five runs over four innings last Saturday. The 27-year-old will be pushed back to next week’s series against the Pirates. It’ll be Grant Holmes taking the ball for Friday’s game against the Mets.

Four runs scored on two homers from Rafael Devers that would have gone out of 17 and 15 ballparks, respectively. While there was little reason to believe in Elder as anything more than a fifth starter coming into the year, his peripherals have remained very solid even during his recent downturn that has lift him 5-6 with a 4.01 ERA. Since he’s in a nice situation in Atlanta, those in deeper mixed leaguers might want to stick with him. He’ll next face the Mets at home.