(Photo credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images)

It's been a long road for Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider since his 20-win All-Star season in 2023.

Strider, 27, will be out to prove he's not a shadow of his former self on Sunday afternoon when he makes his first start of the season as the Braves bid for a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in Denver.

After becoming the fastest pitcher to record 100 strikeouts (61 innings) in a season in modern MLB history in 2023, Strider made just two starts in 2024 before undergoing season-ending UCL surgery.

Last season, the right-hander went 7-14 with a 4.45 ERA across 23 starts in his return from injury.

Strider began this season on the injured list with an oblique strain but is prepared to rejoin the sizzling Braves. They have won both games of the weekend series to expand on the best record (24-10) in the majors. Atlanta remains the only team in the majors that hasn't lost a series and holds a 7 1/2-game lead on the second-place Miami Marlins in the National League East.

The bad news for the Braves in their most recent win, 9-1 over the Rockies on Saturday, was the first-inning exit of star right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. due to a lower-body injury. He will undergo an MRI on Sunday.

'It didn't look great, him coming off the field,' Braves manager Walt Weiss said. 'I am hoping it's just some cramping and that type of thing, but he's getting an MRI. That's never good when you have to get an MRI.'

Acuna hit a leadoff single in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 23 games.

'You never like to be challenged like this,' Weiss said of the potential impact of losing Acuna. 'He's one of your best players and most talented players. If it happens, we'll be OK. We've got lots of moving parts.'

Strider, meanwhile, has dominated the Rockies in three career appearances (two starts), going 2-0 with an 0.50 ERA. He struck out 16 batters and scattered two hits over eight innings in a 3-0 win over Colorado on Sept. 1, 2022, before fanning 13 Rockies in a six-inning win last June 14.

The Rockies, who have lost four of their past five games, will turn to veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland (1-2, 3.48 ERA) in the series finale. He will make his fifth start of the season.

Freeland, 32, will appear in his second outing since being activated from the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation. On Tuesday, he surrendered four runs on five hits across five innings in a 7-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

'I thought (Freeland) was really good,' Colorado manager Warren Schaeffer said. 'I considered taking him out after the fourth, but had him go back out for one more and he was good. He competed, kept us right in the ballgame.'

Freeland, the all-time leader in franchise history in starts (235), is 1-5 with a 5.93 ERA in 10 career starts against the Braves.

--Field Level Media