After watching Matt Wisler win Friday in his major league debut against a first-place team and one of baseball’s top pitchers, the Braves could feel even better about the franchise’s future, which they believe will be bright and fortified by power arms.
Wisler worked eight entirely impressive innings, and his former Padres Triple-A roommate Jace Peterson got him a win by hitting a two-run double in the eighth to lift the Braves past the New York Mets, 2-1, in a series opener at Turner Field.
After Jacob deGrom limited the Braves to four hits and one walk in 7 1/3 innings and left with a 1-0 lead and two runners on, Peterson greeted former Braves prospect Sean Gilmartin with a double over the head of center fielder Juan Lagares to put the Braves ahead and send a charge through a crowd of 28,853.
“We were talking when I got here, and he promised to get me a couple runs today,” Wisler said of Peterson, his roommate last season in Triple-A, before both were traded to the Braves in separate deals. “He pretty much helped me calm down today, he was like don’t worry about it, it’s just another game. I’m behind you just like last year.”
Wisler (1-0) allowed six hits, one run and no walks with two strikeouts in eight innings, and the 22-year-old right-hander threw only 88 pitches and didn’t allow a runner to reach third base until the sixth inning. He joined John Smoltz (1988) as the only Braves starter to pitch at least eight innings and allow one or no runs in his major league debut.
“Coming out of the bullpen, getting on the mound, I thought I’d have a little more nerves,” said Wisler, the first major league pitcher since 1914 to go as long as eight innings in so few pitches in his debut. “I actually felt pretty confident out there … just another game really. Just get out there and attack from the get go, they were swinging early. Made some good pitches early in the counts so they were just rolling over.”
He had command of all his pitches including 90-94 mph fastballs, an outstanding slider, and effective change-up.
“He had multiple weapons, threw a lot of strikes,” said the Braves’ 38-year-old catcher A.J. Pierzynski. “I know he was nervous, talking to him before the game. But at no point did he ever look out of place, intimidated by the moment.
“For him to do it here in front of the home crowd, especially against deGrom, the way he was throwing, it’s very impressive,” said Pierzynski.
“Tremendous,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He came as advertised, a guy that can mix three or four pitches, throw the ball for strikes.”
Wisler said he had about 15-20 family members and in-laws in attendance. Someone asked the 22-year-old Ohio native if this was better than his May 30 Triple-A Gwinnett game at Columbus, when he pitched 8 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts.
“Yeah, because it’s on the big-league stage,” Wisler said, smiling. “In my debut to have an outing like that, it’s unbelievable.”
Called from Gwinnett this week to take the rotation spot of demoted rookie Mike Foltynewicz, Wisler lived up to the elite prospect ranking and scouting reports that said the right-hander had poise and polish beyond his years. He was a model of efficiency, never facing more than four batters in an inning and recording 63 strikes with only 25 balls.
“For a second there I thought deGrom was going to out-pitch him,” Gonzalez said, “because you draw your first assignment in the big leagues, you draw a guy like him and you give up one run, you’ve got a chance to lose the game. But we battled, (got runners on) first and third there, and Petey had a terrific at-bat there and hit one over Lagares. We were able to score a couple of runs and hold them off there in the ninth inning.
“It was a good first outing for him in the big leagues, and for him to get the win, a pretty special night.”
The Braves got Wisler, a 6-foot-3 Ohio native, from the Padres along with Cameron Maybin in the six-player trade that sent closer Craig Kimbrel and center fielder Melvin Upton Jr. to San Diego on the night before opening day. Wisler was rated by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect in the Padres organization after last season and the No. 34 prospect in baseball before this season.
Prospect met ace Friday, and the Braves knew there wasn’t likely to be much room for error against deGrom, who had been 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA and .162 opponents’ average in his previous six starts, with 53 strikeouts and five walks in 43 1/3 innings. The Mets right-hander was in dominant form again, allowing only one runner to advance past first base through seven innings.
But after Andrelton Simmons led off the eighth inning with a line-drive double off the wall in left-center, the Braves were in business. Eury Perez sacrificed the runner to third, and Pedro Ciriaco, pinch-hitting for Wisler, beat out an infield single when shortstop Wilmer Flores hesitated for a moment after first glancing toward Simmons near third base.
The Mets elected to replace deGrom with lefty Gilmartin to face Peterson, who had already walked and singled off deGrom. Peterson greeted Gilmartin with a double to deep center for a 2-1 lead, the first inherited runners that Gilmartin had allowed to score all season.
Peterson is 26-for-75 (.347) with 12 extra-base hits and 12 RBIs in his past 18 games, and said this one, helping his friend get a win in his debut, was specialm?
“Absolutely,” Peterson said. “We were drafted together in ‘11 and have been close ever since. Last year we got to room together…. It was a great all-around game. We fought all the way to the end, and we couldn’t be more happy.”
After Peterson’s one-out single in the third inning, the only Brave to reach base against deGrom was Chris Johnson on a two-base missed-catch error by right fielder Curtis Granderson in the fourth inning. Johnson went to third base on a wild pitch before deGrom struck out Pierzynski to end the inning with the Mets ahead 1-0.
Wisler went pitch-for-pitch with deGrom in almost every inning, never facing more than four batters in an inning and allowing only one runner to advance past second base. That was Ruben Tejada after a leadoff double in the sixth inning, the only extra-base hit until Simmons’ leadoff double in the eighth.
“We walked out to the mound one time, me and Simba (Andrelton Simmons), and said, ‘Are you having fun?’’” Pierzysnki said. “And he just kind of laughed. We were talking about other things; he’s a Notre Dame fan, so I got on him about that. But other than that, he seemed like he was in a good spot and threw the ball well.”
Tejada went to third on Lucas Duda’s fly out and scored on Michael Cuddyer’s single before Wisler’s induced an inning-ending double play grounder from Wilmer Flores.
Wisler struck out the first batter of the game, Granderson, swinging at a nasty breaking ball. Tejada followed with a single to center before Wisler retired the next five batters to get through two innings in 23 pitches including 16 strikes.
After allowing a leadoff single in the third, he got a sacrifice bunt and two flyball outs by the next three batters. After giving up one-out singles in the fourth, he again retired the next two batters on a fly ball and groundout.
And after hitting Kevin Piawecki with a pitch with one out in the fifth, Wisler calmly retired the next two batters on a sacrifice by deGrom and a groundout by Granderson.
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