The Braves got bopped hard enough last night by the Nationals that Charlie Culberson had to come on for relief duty. Now, Atlanta is looking to bounce back off of the mat and give their rivals from the capital a counter-punch in this four-game divisional tilt.
After the Braves dropped their third game in a row in unceremonious fashion, their task of getting out of this mini-slump doesn’t appear to be getting any easier tonight since they’ll have to deal with Patrick Corbin taking the mound for Washington. While Max Scherzer has been on the Injured List (and could potentially return this weekend), Corbin and Stephen Strasburg have been trying their best to pick up the slack and it’s been working for them so far.
Corbin stumbled a bit going into June, but it started clicking for him again once the middle of that month came around and he’s been good-to-great since then. Over his past five starts (which consist of 34 innings), he’s sporting a 1.59 ERA and a 1.86 FIP, His last start was actually a minor aberration, since he “only” went six innings after he ate up seven innings in in his four previous starts before that one.
Combine that with the fact that the only Braves regular with a decent stat line against him over at least 10 plate appearances is Ender Inciarte? This could be a long night for Atlanta’s offense. The Braves always have the potential to explode for offense against any pitcher that they face, but they’re definitely going to have to really work for it tonight against a good pitcher who’s on a solid run of form on the mound.
Meanwhile, Julio Teheran is getting the ball for the Braves and he is probably thrilled that Bryce Harper is no longer wearing the Curly “W” logo. Harper famously took Julio to the woodshed on a near-regular basis while he played with the Nationals. The good news is that Julio Teheran won’t have to worry about Bryce Harper doing damage for the Nationals anymore. The bad news is that the likes of Trea Turner, Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon are still around.
All three of those guys have had a decent amount of success against Julio — Rendon has hit .300 against him over 48 plate appearances. Zimmerman hasn’t hit for average against Julio but when he has hit, he’s hit him hard as he’s currently got three homers against him and Trea Turner is 7-for-15 over 17 plate appearances. The Nationals still have a solid lineup and that’ll be a big concern if Julio is going to find a way out of this outing unscathed.
What is interesting about both of today’s starters is that this will be the first time that either pitcher has faced their opposing team here in 2019. Granted, the Braves and Nationals haven’t played all that often this season, but it should still be interesting to see who has the edge despite making their acquaintance with each other at such a deep point in the season. The cliche would be to say that anything can happen, but I’d imagine that the Braves are very likely motivated to get out of their mini-funk and pick up a win on their nearest competition in the NL East.
The Braves are especially going to be trying to avoid giving the Nationals a chance to go into the last two games of this series with a chance to take three out of four at SunTrust Park. A win is always nice, but it would be especially big for the Braves to get some momentum back on their side as they head into the tail end of this series.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, July 19, 7:20 PM EST.
Location: SunTrust Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: Fox Sports South, MLB Network (Out-of-market only)
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network
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