– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
BALTIMORE — There was only one person who believed Reynaldo López, a former starting pitcher who made 128 out of his last 129 appearances in the big leagues as a reliever in the past two years, could resume his Major League career as a starting pitcher going into the 2024, and that person resided in the López household — but it certainly wasn’t Reynaldo.
López’s wife, Jhilaris, made sure to have Reynaldo keep that faith even when he did not have it in him that his career would pivot back to where it started. Now, after another dominating start on Thursday, López is in rarefied air that former franchise greats such as Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn, and others, used to occupy.
López was the stopper Atlanta desperately needed on Thursday, as he allowed just two hits and no runs while striking out eight as he led Atlanta to a 6-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run double in the first inning, allowing Atlanta to jump out to the lead early and, eventually, snap a five-game losing streak as it ends a nine-game road swing in which it went 3-6.
Baltimore’s winning streak was also snapped, at six games.
“To get a win against a team like this that has been hot lately is definitely huge,” López said through an interpreter. “I think it starts to give the sense that you can start to see the light at the en of the tunnel. You’re hoping it sort of sparks some resemblance of the team we were last year, where we were attacking teams in the first inning.”
López is now center stage in that attack, and his scoreless outing lowered his league-leading ERA to 1.69. Not bad for someone who had thought his starting days were over, and only was convinced by his wife to consider teams that would look at him as a starter in free agency this past offseason. López signed a free-agent deal with Atlanta in November, and has not looked back.
“After the 2021 season, I looked at myself as a reliever. I sort of set those expectations as a reliever,” Lopez said. “I’ve sort of surpassed the expectations that I had for myself [going into this season] … Really, I just want to give credit to my wife, who was the only one who believed in me. She was constantly telling my agent to keep looking for opportunities where I could be a starter somewhere. She was the one who kind of kept the faith.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Thursday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Yusuf Abdullah. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are nine pictures in total.
Follow @Koiki_Sport Follow @ALOST_Official
