Tyler Mahle whiffs nine, allows five runs

Mahle allowed five hits and didn’t walk anyone en route to the no-decision. He racked up 17 whiffs in the favorable spot. He has now made five starts with the Braves since coming over from the Giants at the trade deadline, and he hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in any of them. That’s a 1.48 ERA for Mahle since the deal. He’ll draw a tough matchup against the Phillies on the road next time out.

He struck out four. It’s Mahle’s shortest outing in four starts for the Braves, but he lowered his ERA for his new club to 1.52. He’ll be a great play at home against the Rockies next weekend.

Mahle gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three. He fell to 4-10 with the loss. Mahle pitched well. He allowed only two runs and worked into the seventh inning. It wasn’t his fault the Braves offense only scored one run. Mahle has allowed three runs in 18 2/3 innings (1.48 ERA) over his last three starts. He’s lined up to face the Dodgers at home next week.

Mahle looks reborn in his two starts since the trade deadline. His fastball and splitter played off each other beautifully here forcing a combined 13 swings-and-misses as he showed pinpoint command of each. He kept the ball away from the Mets’ righties so well and barely threw any pitches in the heart of the plate. Again, his command was simply masterful. This was also the first time he’s completed six innings in consecutive outings all season and he has 16 strikeouts, zero walks, and just one earned run through 12 innings as a Brave. He’s lined up for a two-start week against the Twins and Brewers coming up.

Making his Braves debut on Friday, Mahle went toe-to-toe with Yankees starter Max Fried, striking out a season-high nine batters while tossing six scoreless frames. This is the second time in as many starts that Mahle has struck out nine batters, only this time he didn’t allow five earned runs as we saw in his previous outing. Mahle was acquired from the Giants at this year’s trade deadline and has had an up-and-down year thus far. This outing was far better than we could have expected in a road start against the Yankees. We’ll see if Mahle can have similar success in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday at home against the Mets.

The Braves are really just taking on salary here, which in Mahle’s case is about $3 million, and they’re getting guy who has usually been pretty solid when healthy. Mahle has a 5.13 ERA this year, but he’s been better than that lately, posting a 3.79 ERA in his last seven starts. He’s actually throwing a little harder and has a higher strikeout rate (22 percent) than he did last year, when he had a 2.18 ERA in 16 starts for the Rangers. He’ll go into the injured Reynaldo López’s rotation spot for now. He’s still probably just an NL-only guy for fantasy purposes.

Mahle, who is on a one-year, $10 million deal, is 3-9 with a 5.13 ERA for the season, but he has been solid of late, amassing a 3.79 ERA in his last seven turns. Molina is a fringe 40-man roster guy, so this is mostly a salary dump for the Giants. The Giants still figure to trade Robbie Ray, too, and they just lost Trevor McDonald for the rest of the season, so things could get ugly with their rotation the rest of the way. Most likely, Adrian Houser will slide back in as a starter, assuming that no other team wants to take on his contract.

That has to be good for a little bump in trade value. Mahle struck out three and walked two in improving to 3-9 with a 4.96 ERA on the season. He’s due to face the Padres on Saturday, but that outing should be considered very tentative with the trade deadline coming two days later. Mahle won’t be any contender’s top target, but he might be able to help a club get to October, even if he won’t be much use then.

Mahle struck out four and walked one in the outing while throwing 65 percent of his pitches for strikes and posting a 10 percent swinging strike rate. He didn’t allow much hard contact, but he also didn’t miss many bats. The good news is that his four-seam fastball was up almost one mph from his season average and actually was fastest in the fifth inning, averaging 93.4 mph. That still doesn’t mean we’d start him next week against the Brewers.

Mahle tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up a run in the second on a triple and a balk. He’d settle in to give the Giants seven frames of one-run ball, scattering five hits and three walks while striking out four batters. The 31-year-old right-hander holds a 5.35 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, and a 71/32 K/BB ratio at the All-Star break.