Atlanta Braves vs. Boston Red Sox! The Braves, at 24-11, hold the best record in the National League, and they travel to Boston for a 2-game series where they meet a Red Sox team that is outperforming expectations and still sit at 4th, 21-15 in the division. Offensively, they’ve been carried by the long ball, especially from Rafael Devers, who has hit 11 HRs in 35 games. Masataka Yoshido, who was signed by the Red Sox this offseason out of the JPWL, has played a huge part in the offense as he’s carrying a .939 OPS in 129 PAs. As for pitching, and I’ll be polite, they have been carried by their bullpen because their starting pitching has been half-decayed dog shit. Ok…so I wasn’t polite. Get over it. Former Braves, Kenley Jansen and Chris Martin, have been brilliant in their roles as setup man and closer, and Kutter Crawford has joined in on the dominance. Another former Braves player, Adam Duvall, was having a remarkable beginning to his year, carrying a 1.544 OPS with 4 HRs in 8 games, broke his wrist…again, and has been sidelined since. Still, there’s a lot of hard outs in this lineup including Alex Verdugo, Jarren Duran, Justin Turner, and Conner Wong
Atlanta Braves vs. Boston Red Sox Pitching Matchups
Game 1: Nick Pivetta vs. Charlie Morton
Game 2: Brayan Bello vs. TBD (Shuster or Dodd, in all likelihood)
The Gwinnett Stripers have Dylan Dodd listed as tonight’s starter and Jared Shuster is listed as tomorrow’s starter for Gwinnett. If Dodd doesn’t go tonight, he’ll be the starter tomorrow. And if… well, you get it. The bigger question might be that the Braves, who were chock full of SP candidates at the beginning of spring training, could go outside the organization after losing Ian Anderson to TJS and now Max Fried to a left forearm strain. My guess is they’ll stay in-house. Even factoring in the uncertainty, Pivetta vs. Morton leans heavily toward the Braves. At the least, a split should be the expectation.
Transaction a Day AA
This doesn’t need to be said, but I’ll say it anyway: I don’t like this. Forearm strain and Max Fried in the same sentence has been a baseball nightmare for me for these past 5 years. Let’s hope it stops there. I think this will not be a 15-day stint and I hope that the team can stay afloat while Fried recovers.
Braves Lineup
Travis D’Arnaud is back, but not back in the lineup. Hopefully he’ll get a shot tomorrow.
Fried’s situation sounds ominous. A “strain” is often a “partial tear.” Low performance last Friday, Not good.
Why do you think any of this dog shit is not decayed?
There is already reputable reporting that this strain is specifically not a partial tear. But, you know, I’m not confident…
I think the concern is that preliminary scans sometimes don’t reveal a small tear. Fried’s statement to the media today was pretty definite, though, that there is not a tear. He will wait until the muscle heals and then start throwing. Still, I’m nervous.
yup, that’s super fair.
Minor point with preview, these two games are at home. Home road splits so far are crazy, currently 15 -3 away. Next best team is Tampa Bay at 10-4.
You almost don’t want to see a huge first-inning number for the offense during a Morton start, because he has an annoying knack for barfing it all back at the soonest possible opportunity.
So far, a great effort.
Charlie was terrific. Exactly what the team needed.
Curb stomping our lil’ brothers from Boston is always deeply satisfying.
Always fun beating up on the Red Sox and shutting up their fans.
Bad news about Fried. Along with Wright, you’d suspect they’ll be out for a while, possibly until the All Star Break? Come on back Soroka, the Braves need you.
Recap is up.