After receiving a sound beating at the hands of Justin Turner and the rest of the Dodgers last night, the Braves are now in a position where they have to scramble to avoid getting swept at Dodger Stadium.
If the Braves are going to keep the brooms at bay, then they’ll have to do something that they’ve found to be incredibly difficult over the years — they will have to beat the Dodgers when Clayton Kershaw is the starter. The Dodgers have yet to lose this season with Kershaw as their starter, and they have yet to lose against the Braves with Kershaw as their starter, ever.
Even though Kershaw’s days of being the best pitcher in baseball appear to be behind him, he still manages to reach that level when he’s facing the Braves. He threw eight shutout innings against Atlanta in the 2018 NLDS, and this was after the Braves barely managed to push a run past the plate against Kershaw back in July of that season. Plain and simple, Kershaw has owned the Braves and while he’s no longer the undisputed ace for the Dodgers, he’s still good enough to a point where that trend could continue.
Normally, this would be the part where I point out a Braves player who has had an edge against a pitcher. Unfortunately, I can’t bring you any good news on that front. Instead, I’ll let this screencap from Baseball-Reference do the talking.
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So, the only hope offensively is that someone (anyone, really) breaks out and finally gets one over on Kershaw. Either that, or the pitching staff will have to do their best to keep the Braves in the game and keep Los Angeles from pulling away.
That’s easier said than done. The Dodgers have already put 14 runs on the scoreboard during this series, and they’ve done a lot of their damage in the early stages of the game. Mike Foltynewicz might be up to that task. None of the Dodgers have particularly good numbers against Folty. Granted, it’s a very short sample size. Still, it’s encouraging and Folty will also be fortunate to avoid seeing A.J. Pollock. Pollock had gone 6-for-10 with a homer and a double against Foltynewicz in 12 plate appearances, but Pollock’s on the Injured List so Foltynewicz won’t have to worry about trying to figure out how to get him out.
With that being said, it’ll still be a tough task to keep the Dodgers quiet. They have been excellent at home and they have had plenty of success against the Braves in general. A sweep is looking very likely, but hopefully the Braves will finally be able to buck the trend and at least get out of Dodger Stadium with a victory.
There’s been a lot of bad memories at this place in recent time. It sure feels like the Braves are due for a breakthrough at this stadium and there’s no better time than now, right?
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, May 8, 10:10 p.m. ET
Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
TV: Fox Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network
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