Simply over per week after beginning off a four-game square-off in Philadelphia, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies are going to do it once more — this time in Cobb County, as Friday’s matchup will function the collection opener for this weekend’s three-game divisional showdown.
Chris Sale shall be returning to the mound to get this skinny going and this’ll be his sixth-consecutive begin in opposition to a workforce in Postseason place. Over the 5 begins and throughout the 33 innings that Sale has pitched throughout this span, he’s put up an ERA of two.18 and a FIP of 1.55 in opposition to some stiff competitors. He’s definitely been arising big for the Braves right here within the dwelling stretch and Atlanta’s going to want him to actually come up huge as soon as extra in the event that they’re going to get this collection off to the absolute best begin.
What’s attention-grabbing about this go-around is that this’ll be the fourth time that the Braves have despatched Sale on the market to face the Phillies. To date, the outcomes have been fairly good for Sale — the Phillies had been solely capable of get one run off of him throughout the 13 innings he tossed in opposition to them in two begins in April after which Sale left final Thursday’s recreation with the lead after he solely gave up two runs in six innings in opposition to Philadelphia. The Phillies will certainly be hoping that the fourth time is the attraction however with the best way that Sale has been locked in these days, it might nonetheless be a little bit of a shock if this was the second the place the wheels got here off.
So far as particular person matchups go, those to control would most likely be Sale vs. Alec Bohm (.333 common and .821 OPS with one homer in 21 at-bats), Trea Turner (.318 common, .830 OPS in 22 at-bats) and naturally, Kyle Schwarber. Schwarber has solely hit .227 in opposition to Sale however he’s sporting an .883 OPS and that’s as a result of Schwarber has homered twice off of Sale to this point. In reality, Schwarber has been on a little bit of a binge these days as he’s homered in 4 of his previous six video games — three of these got here in opposition to the Braves, thoughts you. It’s no secret that he’ll be swinging for the fences every time he’s up so hopefully Sale will work out a option to maintain him within the park on this explicit night time.
In the meantime, the Phillies shall be countering with Aaron Nola and let me inform you, it has introduced me no pleasure to see the renaissance run that this man has been on lately. Beginning along with his outing on July 28, Nola has made eight begins, thrown 46.2 innings and produced an ERA of two.31 with a FIP of three.93. The final time he gave up greater than two runs in an outing was August 3 in opposition to the Nationals and so they might solely muster up three runs in six innings in opposition to the man.
He definitely made life arduous for the Braves final week, as he tossed seven innings and solely gave up one run in a recreation that the Braves needed to rally late (after he had exited the sport) so as to win. Hopefully they’ll be capable of do some actual harm in opposition to Nola earlier than he leaves this recreation. Who is aware of? Possibly we’ll see one thing much like what occurred when Nola final pitched at Truist Park, which is when Atlanta tagged him for six runs throughout 4.2 innings again on April 26 (which, coincidentally, was the final time Sale noticed the Phillies right here in Cobb County). The changes that Nola has made since August might make that situation unlikely nevertheless it’s baseball and the Braves have been recognized to do some cool stuff in Truist Park so who is aware of what’s going to occur?
Both manner, it’s abundantly clear that the Braves have a chance to start out lunging for the end line so far as the NL East race is anxious. Each groups misplaced their midweek collection to American League divisional leaders so the four-game lead that the Braves left Philadelphia with has remained the identical. The strain is on the Phillies to start out getting outcomes, because the Braves merely have to keep up their tempo so as to throw one other blue flag up there on the sunshine tower exterior of right-center discipline. With that being stated, there’s no want for the Braves to “merely preserve” after they can simply go on the market and seize it for themselves, which a win tonight (and a collection win typically) would go a great distance for Atlanta with regards to conducting that objective.
No matter challenges Atlanta might face from Aaron Nola, they’ll have Chris Sale going and hopefully he’ll be capable of do the trick as soon as once more in opposition to the Phillies. A low-scoring, nervy affair is unquestionably potential however hopefully the house benefit shall be sufficient to hold the Braves to victory on this explicit night time. We’ll see what occurs, of us!
Recreation Time: Friday, September 11, 7:15 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
