NEW YORK — With Chris Sale sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Braves desperately need good outings from their front-line starters.
And Spencer Schwellenbach got the message.
The right-hander limited the Mets to two runs Monday night in seven innings of the Braves’ 3-2 victory. The start was his second consecutive against the club’s division rival, and he was even better this time than six days earlier.
“It was a lot different,” Schwellenbach said. “A lot of different pitches. I learned that I don’t have to throw the same pitches to the same hitters. I can switch that up and be unpredictable.”
Schwellenbach was efficient, averaging less than 13 pitches per inning. He intentionally stayed in the zone — with over 65% of his pitches going for strikes — and trusted catcher Sean Murphy to sequence in a way that would get outs.
He also utilized his arsenal more evenly than his last outing against the Mets. Schwellenbach’s fastball was his most frequent pitch, and he threw it only seven more times than the next closest one, a sinker.
In his previous start, Schwellenbach went to his fastball 41 times, which was 23 more than any other pitch.
“He’s got such a big assortment,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He mixes his pitches well, and I don’t know that he has to have a specific plan. “He has a good awareness of what’s working on that given night.”
Schwellenbach can get overshadowed on a team that has Sale, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, and flamethrower Spencer Strider in the same starting rotation. But Schwellenbach’s performance has been on par with the two All-Stars.
The 25-year-old is tied with the Pirates’ Paul Skenes, the Yankees’ Max Fried and the Giants’ Logan Webb for the most quality starts — at least six innings of three earned runs or less — in MLB. He also leads MLB in innings pitched and is tied with Webb for the greatest number of starts lasting at least seven innings.
Those accomplishments more than warrant an All-Star nod for Schwellenbach, according to his teammates.
“For sure,” said Ronald Acuña Jr., whose solo home run in the third inning helped give Schwellenbach an early lead.
Schwellenbach said earning the first All-Star recognition of his young career would be “awesome,” but he has bigger goals in mind — the starter wants to throw around 200 innings, something he is on pace for, and more important, he wants the Braves to win games.
And attempts for the team to achieve that accomplishment will start Tuesday with a 7:10 p.m. first pitch at Citi Field.
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