While many fans of the Atlanta Braves were sleeping, the team blew a multi-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning before losing on Tuesday evening. To be fair, the defeat came in relatively unlucky fashion but, less than 24 hours later, the Braves will again face off with the San Francisco Giants and, this time, the visiting team will have revenge on their minds.
Max Fried will take the hill for Atlanta and the 25-year-old left-hander has been lights-out this season. Fried followed up two shaky outings with six innings of shutout baseball in his last start and, all told, he brings a 2.86 ERA into this match-up with the Giants.
On the other side of the ledger, the Giants will deploy veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija. While certainly not spectacular, the 34-year-old has been solid this season, posting a 3.69 ERA in nine starts and 46 1⁄3 innings. Still, the Braves have the pitching advantage on paper in this contest and, with the clear edges in the lineup, that should bode well for Brian Snitker’s bunch.
To that end, the wise folks in Las Vegas install the Braves as significant favorites (-159 at the time of this post) and that should provide some level of confidence. Things can get weird on the baseball field, as evidenced by Tuesday night’s result, but Atlanta is the better team with the better pitcher on the hill at the outset. That’s a good place to start.
Stay tuned throughout the evening for all the latest.
Game Info
Time/Date: Wednesday, May 22, 9:45 pm ET
Location: Oracle Park
TV: Fox Sports Southeast (Streaming: Fox Sports Go)
Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network