Spencer Strider was charged with the loss in the final game of the series with the San Francisco Giants yesterday. Strider’s record moved to 4-8, and the Braves gave Justin Verlander his first win of the season, making him 1-8 for the Giants.

Strider allowed three earned runs on five hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts. He allowed two homers in the fifth inning, one to Rafael Devers and one to Matt Chapman.

Strider’s ERA is now 3.72 on the season.

After the game, Spencer Strider gave some brutally honest assessments of the Atlanta Braves’ 2025 season. He touched on the security he and many others have with their long-term contracts and standing with the team, and how other people will pay the consequences of their losing ways.

He also touched on his frustration with executing a great two-strike slider near the dirt to Devers, who took him deep for the second time in his career on such a pitch.

See the full video below.

“It’s embarrassing, honestly.”

“It sucks it’s just… at some point you can’t keep thinking you are better than you’re playing.”

“We’ve got to be honest with ourselves.”

Spencer Strider on the Devers Home Run

“That ball to Devers was, in every other circumstance in my career, was a probably a really good executed pitch. The only other time that’s been a home run was the last time I faced Rafael Devers in 2023 in Boston, and he hit a home run on a two-strike slider that almost hit the dirt. You know, I suppose you could say it’s on me for going to the well too many times, knowing that’s a potential outcome. I can only execute my strengths. I can only do what I can do. I think, ultimately, regardless of what your stuff looks like, what your velo is, how well you are executing at any given moment. The best pitch is the one you have the most conviction in.”

Spencer Strider on the Consequences of Losing

Losing in the playoffs has shown us that there are consequences for our failure. In a lot of cases, myself as much as anyone, we have a level of security that can insulate us from that reality. I try to consider that if we fail on the field, if I fail to do my job, then it’s somebody else that’s probably going to be held accountable for it, and they probably don’t deserve it… in a lot of cases. That weighs pretty heavy on me, and I know it does a lot of other guys in here. It’s something that we’ve talked about as a group for the last couple months. It’s just the direction that we are headed that we may be saying goodbye to some friends if we don’t turn things around. Unfortunately, we might be in that boat now.”

We’ll see what happens and that’s far above my…. my authority.”

Conclusion

Spencer Strider is stating the obvious. He and several other Braves are locked into long-term deals and have been declared mostly safe from trade talks. They are the core of the team around which the front office needs to build. This is a team that was expected to win. The pitching staff was decimated by injuries this year, but the offense is not performing, either.

The Braves will try to sell at the deadline, but with Raisel Iglesias has been bad and Marcell Ozuna has been absent from the lineup with a hip injury/poor results.