OAKLAND, Calif. — Atlanta Braves right-hander Michael Soroka tossed six innings in his long-awaited return to the majors Monday evening, pitching for the primary time since twice tearing his proper Achilles tendon.
He was known as up from Triple-A Gwinnett to start out in opposition to the Oakland Athletics on Memorial Day — a whopping 1,030 days between outings for the Braves’ 2020 opening-day starter. Soroka allowed 4 runs on 5 hits, struck out three and walked two. He left trailing 4-1.
The 25-year-old pitcher obtained cheers from Braves followers as he ran out to the mound for the underside of the primary to make his first large league look since Aug. 3, 2020, then calmly retired the facet so as on 13 pitches. Left fielder Eddie Rosario made a leaping catch on the wall to start out the second, robbing Aledmys Díaz of a house run as Soroka watched in delight.
“Let’s go, Michael!” one fan yelled.
Soroka did not enable successful till Jonah Bride’s one-out single within the third however rapidly loaded the bases with one other single and successful batter. He emerged unscathed after inducing Seth Brown’s inning-ending double play.
However then Soroka plunked Shea Langeliers with a pitch to start the fifth and gave up an RBI single to Esteury Ruiz earlier than Ryan Noda‘s three-run homer put Oakland up 4-1.
Sean Murphy had staked Soroka to a 1-0 lead with an RBI single within the first in opposition to his former workforce.
Soroka went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 2019 to complete second in NL Rookie of the 12 months voting and sixth for the Cy Younger Award. He first tore his Achilles on Aug. 3, 2020, after which had extra onerous luck. A setback led to a follow-up surgical procedure, then he tore the identical Achilles once more whereas rehabbing halfway by way of the 2021 season.
This spring, Soroka had one other complication in his comeback due to a hamstring damage.