Grant Holmes gets the ball Tuesday night as the Braves open a series against a Miami Marlins club that has quietly worked its way into the Wild Card chase.
Atlanta comes in riding its first five-game winning streak since April, with August already starting on the right foot after the Washington Nationals rolled through town a game over .500 and left two games under. The Braves are also looking at their final 50 games of the 2026 regular season, and the mood around the club has clearly changed.
The Marlins, though, bring real urgency to Truist Park. At 58-55, Miami is tied with San Diego and sits just two games behind both the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks for a Wild Card spot. That gives this opener a little extra edge, even if the source of the tension is simple enough: the Braves are trying to keep rolling, and the Marlins are trying to make noise.
Holmes, 6-4 with a 3.88 ERA, has remained in the rotation longer than some may have expected. There had been hope he would already have shifted into a long-relief role, but that move hasn’t happened.
His July work was steady enough on the surface - five innings in four of his five starts, and 4.2 innings in the other - but the most recent outing was his roughest. Against the Nationals on July 30, he went 4.2 innings, allowed five hits, and gave up three solo homers.
He hasn’t reached six innings since June 3.
There is some recent history with Miami, and it wasn’t pretty for Holmes. In mid-April, he faced the Marlins and was pulled after four innings, having allowed three hits and two walks that turned into three runs. Xavier Edwards is 1-for-8 against him, while Kyle Stowers is 0-for-6.
Miami will go with Ryan Gusto, who enters at 0-2 with a 5.31 ERA. The right-hander has bounced between starting and relieving, with eight appearances as a starter and five out of the bullpen.
He was working mostly as a starter in June before being optioned, then returned on July 9 and has been eased back in. His longest outing of the season came July 29 against Philadelphia, when he got through five innings but finished with 9 H, 6 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, and 3 K.
Gusto also has a rough track record against Atlanta from last season. He faced the Braves twice in August and took the loss both times, in 7-1 and 12-1 Braves wins.
In those games, he was charged with three earned runs and then nine earned runs. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II each have six at-bats against him, while Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson have homered off him.
Game time is set for Tuesday, August 4 at 7:15 p.m. ET from Truist Park in Atlanta. The game will air on BravesVision and Gray TV, with streaming available on MLB.tv.
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