Braves prospect Didier Fuentes rocked in 10-1 loss to A's: ‘It's been a rough go'

New York Times

09-07-2025

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The youngest and second-oldest players in the majors pitched for the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night against the Athletics. Didier Fuentes, 20, and Jesse Chavez, 41, had something in common: Neither looked like he belonged on a major-league mound.
Fuentes gave up five runs and three home runs in the first inning, and Chavez served up a grand slam to Kurtz in the second inning as the Athletics built a 9-0 lead before making their fifth out.
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They rolled over the Braves 10-1, handing Atlanta its 10th loss in 12 games, and further exposing the urgent state of their injury-riddled starting rotation that includes standouts Grant Holmes, Spencer Strider and 'pray the offense scores a bunch of runs.'
'It just kind of spiraled on him,' Snitker said of Fuentes, who's 0-3 with a 13.85 ERA in four starts, and headed back to the minor leagues. 'It's a lot to process for a young guy, and it's been a rough go for him. He needs to go back and start pitching and getting in an environment that he's accustomed to being in.'
The loss also served as another reminder of how disjointed and disappointing most of this lineup has been all season.
Without injured co-aces Chris Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach in the rotation, there frankly is no winning formula for this team as currently constructed. Not unless a few regulars — namely, Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies and Marcell Ozuna — break out of extended slumps, and Austin Riley starts being the productive slugger he was in the past.
The Braves' only run came on a fifth-inning, 452-foot homer from Eli White, who was a late lineup addition in right field after Ronald Acuña Jr. was scratched an hour before the game due to lower back tightness. At that point, the Braves were down 10-0.
ATL – Eli White Solo HR (4)
📏 Distance: 452 ft💨 EV: 105.8 mph📐 LA: 34°⚾️ 86.9 mph cutter (ATH – LHP Jeffrey Springs)🏟️ Would be out in 30/30 MLB parks
ATL (1) @ ATH (10)🔺 5th#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/R2sAnh8YAU
— MLB Home Runs🚀 (@MLBHRs_) July 9, 2025
The A's Lawrence Butler hit an inside-the-park home run on the first pitch Fuentes threw. Fuentes' second pitch was a fastball that hit the left wrist of shortstop Jacob Wilson, a starter in next week's All-Star Game. Wilson left the game immediately, but X-rays showed no fracture, just a contusion.
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The next batter, Brent Rooker, hit a two-run homer. And so it went for Fuentes, who has given up 23 hits and six homers in 13 career MLB innings. Counting the minor leagues, he's 0-10 in 13 starts. Fuentes' body language and slumped shoulders were indicative of someone who felt defeated and worn down.
'That's what it does,' Snitker said. 'He's not mature enough to do this yet. He will be with innings and time.'
With the Braves trying to fill the rotation with the likes of Fuentes — and whoever replaces him now — and Bryce Elder, it's a hard road ahead. Then there is the issue of who's going to fill the fifth spot, where the Braves used a bullpen game on Saturday after losing Schwellenbach to a fractured elbow earlier in the week.
Without a trade addition, they have no better options in the minor leagues. Fuentes has plenty of talent and good stuff, but his location is poor and he's looked entirely overmatched on the big stage — even in a game played in a Triple-A stadium, as this one was at Sutter Health Park.
Then again, he only made one start in Triple A and six above High A before he was thrust into what was supposed to be a spot big-league start to give the others extra rest. That was before Sale and Schwellenbach went down. Fuentes has now made four starts, pitching fewer than four innings in each of the past three.
He exited Tuesday in the second inning after giving up a single, walk and single to load the bases with none out.
Butler, a graduate of Atlanta's Westlake High, hit a third-inning home run off Chavez, who averaged 90 mph with his sinker and 84.4 mph with his changeup, generally not enough differential to pitch effectively in the majors.
It was a night of firsts for Butler, who became the first A's player to hit both an inside-the-park homer and a conventional home run in the same game since Billy Williams in 1975, and the first A's player to hit an inside-the-park homer since Mark Kotsay — a onetime Brave and current A's manager — did it in Game 2 of the 2006 Division Series against Texas.
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Facing A's left-hander Jeffrey Springs, the Braves started journeyman Stuart Fairchild in center field in place of Harris, who has been out of the lineup in consecutive games and four of the past nine.
Harris had to watch from the bench as his close friend and offseason training partner Butler dominated.
Acuña said he felt his back tighten in the stadium before batting practice Tuesday, and he hopes to be back in the lineup Wednesday.
'I felt good coming in today,' he said through an interpreter. 'It was just something I felt doing a movement while going to the gym. The first day of every series is gym day for me. So I was in there and did a movement, and just felt it tighten up on me.'
Acuña was voted to start in Tuesday's All-Star Game in Atlanta and is also scheduled to participate in the Home Run Derby on Monday. He said he would wait to see how quickly he recovers before making any decisions about those events.
'I think we should just take it day by day, see how we're feeling,' he said. 'My first priority is to be able to rejoin the (Braves) and help the guys on the field. Everything else, we'll just take day by day.'