In the series finale, Mike Minor will take hill for the Braves while Kansas City will trot out Luis Mendoza. First pitch is set for 8:10 PM EDT on SportSouth. Here are the lineups:
Braves:
- Jordan Schafer, LF
- Jason Heyward, RF
- Justin Upton, DH
- Freddie Freeman, 1B
- Gerald Laird, C
- B.J. Upton, CF
- Dan Uggla, 2B
- Chris Johnson, 3B
- Andrelton Simmons, SS
- Alex Gordon, LF
- Alcides Escobar, SS
- Eric Hosmer, 1B
- Billy Butler, DH
- Salvador Perez, C
- Lorenzo Cain, CF
- Mike Moustakas, 3B
- Jeff Francoeur, RF
- Miguel Tejada, 2B
via BrooksBaseball
Mendoza enters with a 4.30 ERA, 4.62 FIP, and 4.53 xFIP to go along with a 14.6% strikeout rate and a 9.6% walk rate on the year. So, he walks a good many batters while not striking out many either. Mendonza does get ground balls at a high rate, sporting a 48.4% ground ball rate. He's allowed eight home runs in his 69 innings pitched.
Both of Mendoza's off-speed pitches have whiff/swing rates above 20%, although his changeup is just above that at 21%. His curveball is his major swing and miss pitch with a whiff/swing rate of 32.76%.