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The Braves and Padres gave the sold out Truist Park crowd a game worthy of the Atlanta home opener of the 2023 season.

Spencer Strider threw gas in the top of the first inning that probably could have fueled the F-22 and F-35 jets that performed the pre-game flyover. He was effective against the Padres early in tonight’s contest.

Atlanta scored its nineteenth run of the first two frames of games this season. Like it was all three games in St. Louis, it came via an Austin Riley RBI.

The game was all Braves until the top of the fourth inning, when longtime Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter ingratiated himself to his new club with a three run bomb into the Chop House.

Those were the only runs that the Padres scored against Strider, but it accentuated a shift where the game became more laborious for the young right-hander.

Strider pitched five hard fought innings against a top-to-bottom lethal Padres lineup. He struck out nine, including perennial MVP candidate Manny Machado twice.

Things turned after Strider’s exit, as the Braves bullpen surrendered three runs to fall behind 6-4. Particularly disconcerting for Atlanta was the disastrous appearance from struggling reclamation project Kirby Yates. Yates threw a wild pitch in the top of the eighth inning to score Xander Bogaerts, and allowed another run from an RBI bunt single.

The inning seemed worse than it was for the Braves, for whom a two-run deficit is far from insurmountable.

Atlanta immediately answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth. Tim Hill took the mound for San Diego, and looked to be an issue for the Braves with his sidearm delivery.

Orlando Arcia, who homered in the third inning, reached base on a double. He scored two batters later on a Matt Olson double. “Oly” countered Hill’s funky delivery with a simpler swing, driving the ball down the left field line.

Atlanta DH/Catcher Travis d’Arnaud took the same approach two batters later. His RBI single scored Olson and tied the game at six.

AJ Minter continued his early season dominance as Atlanta’s premiere reliever. He faced adversity after walking Padres leadoff man Trent Grisham and allowing an infield single to Manny Machado. Minter prevented any real damage by striking out former Nationals all star Juan Soto, and induced a double play from new Padre Xander Bogaerts.

Now it’s the bottom of the ninth inning and the stage is set for someone to be a hero. Sean Murphy and Sam Hilliard made good contact in the first two at-bats of the frame, but flyout was the result for both men.

Braves postseason hero Eddie Rosario entered the game as a pinch-hitter with two outs, and answered Manager Brian Snitker’s call with a double. With a man in scoring position and two outs, Orlando Arcia had a chance to cap off a movie-script night for the Braves.

Snitker told reporters in his postgame press conference that Arcia “has a slow heartbeat.” He’s just saying what we all can see, as the Braves say Ar-see-ya tomorrow to the Padres.