A.J. Minter made Braves history on Sunday.
Minter pitched the eighth and 1/3 of the ninth inning against the Mets, striking out two hitters. He became the first Braves pitcher since at least 1913 to not walk a batter in his first 10 appearances.
“I guess everything’s just kind of peaking at the right time,” Minter said after the Braves dropped a 5-1 decision. “During the minors this year, I struggled a little bit. I learned from it, came through with it and everything’s feeling good right now. There’s a lot of things you can’t control in baseball, but I feel like I’m going to make hitters hit the ball, put it in play. I’m going to attack you and you’re either going to strikeout or you’re going to hit it.”
Minter has a 2.79 ERA since being promoted to Atlanta on Aug. 23. He’s allowed three runs and seven hits across 10 innings with 15 strikeouts . He’s fanned six of the last seven batters he’s faced.
“It’s been really, really good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We were just trying all year to get him healthy. We saw that in spring training. The kid’s got stuff and a great mound presence, confidence. We just needed to get him healthy because we thought if we got him up here, he could be a big part. And he’s going to be.”
A candidate to become the eventual closer, Minter has impressed the Braves with a swing-and-miss repertoire, including a devastating slider. His fastball sits in the mid-90s.
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