ATLANTA – Saturday’s start of the National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park produced widely differing sensations for two local pitchers.
For Phillies reliever Craig Kimbrel, the night game proved to be a time for celebration as he
pitched the ninth and final inning of a 3-0 Game 1 win to get the save against his former team.
Kimbrel, a Lee High School graduate who has more than 400 saves in his career and was named NL Rookie of the Year while with the Braves in 2011, was the last of seven pitchers used by Philadelphia in a unique but ultra-successful strategy for a postseason series opener.
Meanwhile, somber news awaited Buckhorn High graduate and Atlanta starter-sometimes
reliever Kyle Wright. The tall right-hander, who led Major League Baseball in victories in 2022 with a 21-5 record, was hit with sobering news over the weekend.
Wright, who missed parts of spring training and four months of the regular season with shoulder trouble, was first told he would not be on the playoff roster. It was announced Saturday that an MRI, which the pitcher asked for, revealed shoulder damage that will require surgery and he’ll likely miss the entire 2024 season.
Wright took the developments in stride after wondering why the shoulder hadn’t improved
despite shutting down and spending time on the 60-day Injured List during the seasons before returning in September.
Wright told 256 Today there is “some peace of mind. At least now we can get it fixed.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker talked to the media about his pitcher prior to the start of Game 1.
“Kyle is not right (physically),” Snitker said. “He had an MRI (Friday), and he’s going to have to have a procedure done in order to get him right. We are going to confer with the doctors and decide exactly what it is. But you could tell he wasn’t right in the last three or four outings in the regular season.
“I think what they’re talking about doing, and like I say, this is all for him to
discuss with the doctors. I mean it’s something that looking at it he’s going to miss next year.”
Wright received a cortisone shot before spring training after he experienced discomfort
throwing. He joined the team late out of spring training and made five starts before joining the IL. He returned to the active roster in September and had two starts and two relief appearances with mixed results.
“I hate it for him,” Snitker said. “It’s a tough decision, number one, when you have to tell him he didn’t make the roster, but the reason, and then I think he just — I mean he said, he wants to get everything taken care of, then. I hate it for the person, just because the kid wants to be out there, coming off a year like he did last year, I know it killed him all year to not be out here.
“It’s hard, and there was something going on and they found it.”
After a day off, the Phillies-Braves NLDS resumes today at 5:07 p.m. CT on TBS.
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