It’s been a rough week for the Atlanta Braves, as the team suffered a painful sweep in Los Angeles to begin a challenging road trip. After emerging from the house of horrors that is Dodger Stadium, Brian Snitker’s club will square off with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the first of four games on Thursday evening and, if nothing else, the change of venue may be a positive thing for the visiting team.

Beyond that, the presence of Mike Soroka should be comforting, as the young right-hander takes the ball in the series opener. The 21-year-old has been electric in four starts this season, navigating 23.2 innings with a sparkling 1.14 ERA. It might be safe to assume that this level of dominance may be unsustainable but, simply put, Soroka looks fantastic and Atlanta has a pitching advantage (at least on paper) in this match-up as a result.

On the other side, the Diamondbacks return from a lengthy road trip and they will deploy 25-year-old right-hander Luke Weaver. He brings a career 4.58 ERA to the table over the course of 271.1 big league innings but, in 2019, Weaver has been significantly better than that, posting a 3.29 ERA across seven starts. Given the way Atlanta struggled against the Dodgers, nothing is assured, but there is little in Weaver’s profile to suggest that the Braves would be wholly unable to mount consistent offense.

Through the prism of Las Vegas, the series opener is projected as a virtual coin flip. Depending on which sports book you examine, the two teams face (very) similar odds and, with the Braves on the road, that isn’t the worst position to be in as first pitch approaches. Still, there is a level of urgency to this one on Atlanta’s side and it would be nice for the Braves to snap their losing skid with haste.

Stay tuned throughout the evening for all the latest.

Game Info

Time/Date: Thursday, May 9, 9:40 pm ET

Location: Chase Field

TV: Fox Sports Southeast (Streaming: Fox Sports Go)

Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network