Folks, I’m gonna say it.

Seven games into the 2026 season, the vibes around the Atlanta Braves are getting dangerously high.

Maybe it’s just PTSD from the marathon of pain that was the 2025 season, but Thursday night’s 17-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks was some serious catharsis — and whiplash from the strong pitching which anchored the season-opening homestand.

A day after the Braves became the first MLB team since 1979 with 11 players amassing a hit and an RBI in the same game, Atlanta turns to Grant Holmes for Game 2 of the four-game series in Phoenix.

The 30-year-old right-hander filled a necessary gap last season as a starter — his first in a full-time capacity at the major league level — on a depleted staff. He threw 115 innings (fourth-most on the team) and posted a 3.99 ERA and 4.40 FIP before he joined the novel that was the 2025 Braves’ injury list with an elbow injury which cost him the final two months of the season.

Holmes didn’t find the same success in his 2026 debut Sunday against Kansas City, surrendering three runs on five hits over five innings to take the loss in the Braves’ first defeat of the campaign.

He’ll be facing off against Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez. The southpaw, who is in his third season with Arizona after previous stints with Boston and Detroit, allowed just one unearned run on four hits over five innings in his season debut against the Dodgers March 28.

However, he didn’t factor into the decision after the Diamondbacks blew a 2-0 lead in the final four innings.

More notably, Rodriguez is only a few weeks removed from starting Venezuela’s 3-2 World Baseball Classic championship game win over the United States on March 17, allowing just one hit over 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

This time, he’ll be facing off against Venezuelan teammate Ronald Acuña Jr., who should be atop the Braves lineup and is still looking for his first homer of the season.

It’ll be another late-night start in the desert. And this game will be the first of two in a row which will be a national TV broadcast, this one on Apple TV.

Game Date/Time: Friday, April 3, 9:45 p.m. EDT

Location: Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan