After dropping two straight games to a fourth-place team (albeit a hot fourth-place team), the Braves will now start a road trip that figures to be as crucial as a late-July road trip could possibly be. Atlanta will be visiting the two teams closest to them in the standings over the next six days and things will start with a three game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
As far as extremely recent history goes, the Phillies might be going into this series looking to prove something. They played six games at SunTrust Park and the Braves came out the winner in four of those games — including ending each series with an offensive explosion. It was about as comprehensive of a defeat as you could get without actually sweeping the other team, so the Braves should be feeling confident that they can beat the Phillies.
With that being said, those games were in Cobb County and now they’ll be returning to the scene of the March massacre that took place in Philadelphia. If you’ve ever wondered why Tiger Woods became a spiritual mascot of the Atlanta Braves, the Braves getting outscored 23-11 over three games against the preseason favorites to win the division after an underwhelming offseason is why. It was a long series and it truly felt like this was going to be a long year at that point.
Fortunately, things have turned out pretty good for the Braves so far. They’ll be returning to Philly with a 4.5-game lead in the division and a 5.5-game lead over the Phillies. They’ll also be coming to town with someone who they didn’t have during that trip in March: Mike Soroka. Even though the Phillies tagged him for four earned runs for 4.2 innings, Soroka could be feeling confident in the rematch. He’s faced six teams two times this season, and he’s normally done better in the second game (according to FanGraphs’s Game Score Version 2.0 stat) than in the first. If that trend continues, then I’d imagine that Soroka is probably going to make it past the fifth inning and give us a performance that we’re used to seeing from him.
Speaking of catching someone for a second time, the Braves will be seeing Jake Arrieta for the second time this season. The first time was back in March, and we’ve already talked enough about that series. However, it’s been a bit of a rocky season for Arrieta since he held the Braves to just one run over six innings. He’s heading into this game sitting on a 4.40 ERA and a 4.95 FIP. Those are the type of numbers that are closer to Baltimore Jake rather than Chicago Jake.
With that being said, the past two starts for Arrieta have gone relatively well, as he threw five innings on July 14 against the Nats while only giving up a run. He went into the sixth inning on July 19 against Pittsburgh while also giving up a single run. It’s definitely not a huge performance where he’s going deep into games, but the Phillies still came out ahead in the end of both of those games and that’s all they’ll be asking of Arrieta tonight against the Braves.
The Phillies may going into this series with something to prove against the Braves, but the Braves will also be going into this series at least trying to prove that they can pick up a victory in Philadelphia. Something’s going to give, and we’ll see what happens tonight as the Braves kick off one of the most important road trips of the season.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, July 26, 7:05 PM ET
Location: SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Fox Sports South, MLB Network (Out-of-network only)
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network
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