Grant Holmes will get the ball for the Atlanta Braves when they open their series against the New York Mets on Friday, July 3 at 7:15 p.m. ET. He is stepping in for Bryce Elder, who is being replaced after his velocity dropped in his last outing.
The timing matters because this is only the second meeting between the teams this year, and the New York Mets won the first series in June. For the Braves, the start is part of a wider push to find an offensive spark and end a month-long struggle that has left them chasing their first series win since June 20.
Holmes arrives with mixed numbers. He has a 3.96 ERA overall and a 4.20 ERA across his last seven outings, but his most recent appearance was sharper: four innings, one hit and no runs. The problem is the shape of his season line. Holmes has a career-low 20.7% strikeout rate in 2026 and a career-high 11.1% walk rate, a combination that suggests he is working more often without the kind of margin that protects a starter when innings start to lengthen.
There is at least one recent example of how a pitcher can still navigate a tough spell by staying ahead of hitters. Christian Scott, back from the injured list a few weeks ago, carried a 3.20 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP into his June 27 outing against the Philadelphia Phillies, when he worked four innings, gave up two runs, three hits and two walks, and struck out six. He said his main goal was to establish his offspeed stuff early, and that he felt he had been consistent with landing pitches in the zone.
That is the challenge in this matchup. The Braves need the game to turn in a hurry, and Holmes needs to give them enough clean innings to keep that chance alive. If he can settle in early, Atlanta gets a better path to the series-opening win it has been missing. If he cannot, the search for momentum will stretch into another night.
