Grant Holmes was lifted after allowing two runs in four innings Tuesday against the Cubs.
Holmes gave up just one hit, an Alex Bregman homer with one out in the fourth. However, he lost the strike zone immediately afterwards, walking the next three batters he faced. The last two of those were on four pitches. Moisés Ballesteros probably could have worked a walk, too, but he ended up hitting an RBI groundout instead, and Dansby Swanson then struck out after failing to challenge a 1-0 slider that would have been overturned into a ball. Holmes threw 39 pitches in the fourth, so he wasn’t brought back out for the fifth. That worked out nicely anyway, as Didier Fuentes hadn’t pitched in six days and was ready to go long. As it turned out, that homer Holmes surrendered was the only Cubs’ only hit of the game in the Braves’ 5-2 win. Holmes will face the Red Sox on Sunday.