Braves pitcher Mike Soroka tears Achilles against Mets, out for season

Ryan Young
·Staff writer
Updated ·2 min read

Atlanta pitcher Mike Soroka tore his right Achilles’ tendon in the Braves’ 7-2 loss to the New York Mets at SunTrust Park on Monday night and will miss the rest of the season, the team announced.

Soroka, after throwing a pitch to Mets third baseman J.D. Davis in the third inning, started making a move over to first to cover while first baseman Freddie Freeman scooped up Davis’ ground ball. As he stepped off the mound, however, Soroka collapsed almost instantly in pain.

The 22-year-old tried to walk off the field after the play ended, though made it limping just a few steps before he fell back down to the infield grass. Soroka was eventually helped off the field and into the dugout, putting no weight on his leg as he did so.

Soroka went 13-4 for the Braves last season, throwing an impressive 2.68 ERA while earning an All-Star nod. He finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting and sixth for the Cy Young Award.

He was in the middle of his third start of the year when he went down. Soroka was replaced on the mound by Chris Rusin. The loss was the Braves’ first to the Mets in their four-game series and first in their last six games. They had fallen into a 3-0 hole when Soroka went down.

“To sum it up, this night just sucks. It just really does,” Freeman said, via 11 Alive News’ Maria Martin. “When you lose, in my mind, one of the top pitching arms in this entire game for the whole season, it’s pretty tough ... It just sucks. There’s no sugarcoating this night.”

Mike Soroka on the ground.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Mike Soroka went down in the third inning on Monday night and had to be helped off the field. (John Bazemore/AP)

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