Friday night was a huge one for the Atlanta Braves. Truist Park played host to the first home game of the season, and just down the road, Spencer Strider was making his second rehab start with the Gwinnett Stripers.

Finally, Braves fans have something to get excited about.

At the time of this writing, the big-league club is up 3-0, with Spencer Schwellenbach tossing a near perfect game, looking like one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. In Gwinnett, Spencer Strider just wrapped up his outing for the Stripers, and he was also nearly perfect, going 5.1 innings without allowing a hit and striking out eight.

Strider’s fastball sat 95-97 throughout the evening, a tick down from what Braves fans might be used to seeing, but it got stronger as the outing went on. Most impressively, Strider was working in his slider, curveball, and changeup beautifully, making the Nashville Sounds lineup look hopeless.

The thought going in was that Spencer Strider would need a couple of more starts in Gwinnett before returning the majors. The Braves could still feel that way, but he threw 75 pitches tonight and was so damn dominant that the club could feel comfortable having him make his final “rehab” start at the major-league level.

Regardless, the Braves are not far away from Spencer Strider returning to the rotation, a scary proposition considering the way Spencer Schwellenbach has pitched through two starts. Perhaps the sky isn’t falling after all.

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Photo: John Adams/Icon Sportswire