The Atlanta Braves will begin a nine-game road trip on Saturday as they open a three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies. The series was originally scheduled to launch on Friday, but the game was canceled early due to inclement weather. The teams will now play on Saturday, have a doubleheader on Sunday and then wrap up the series on Monday.
Kyle Wright will be on the mound for the Braves on Saturday and will be looking to put it all together in his third start of the season. Wright has shown flashes through his first two outings. He saw dominant breezing through the first two innings of his debut in Tampa before the wheels came off in the third inning. Wright threw in and out of trouble in his second start against the Mets, allowing him five hits and four walks, but ran his pitch count up over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. Wright’s success depends on his ability to command his four seams and that’s the area most dome needs to be decorated in early Saturday.
The Phillies will face right-hander Jake Arrieta who will make his second start of the season. Arrieta rode through an injury plagued 2019 season. He was a little behind the rest of the Philadelphia starters, but made his debut this past Monday against the Yankees, where he allowed seven hits, three runs and a few homers in five innings. Arrieta faced the Braves twice in 2019 resulting in five runs in 11 innings.
JT Realmuto of Philadelphia (.335 / .385 / .708), Bryce Harper (.250 / .464 / .550) and Didi Gregorius (.292 / .346 / .592) started well with the record and the Phillies record are third in the league with a 120 wRC + as a team. It’s not so nice on the pitching side of things where Philadelphia’s pitching staff ranks 24th in the league with a 4.72 FIP. The bullpen has been a big part of that craving that put a 7.89 ERA (5.67 FIP) through the early gong.
Atlanta will be without Ozzie Albies and Matt Adams for the first part of the road trip after being placed on the injured list earlier this week. Nick Markakis has returned to the lineup since returning to the lineup and delivered a walk-off home run in Thursday’s win over the Blue Jays. In Thursday’s win, Brian Snitker went with an outside field lineup from Adam Duvall in left, Ronald Acuña Jr. in center and Markakis in court and replied that he could stay with this for a while.
Philly Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. ET and will be shown on Fox Sports Southeast.
Game Info
Game Date / Time: Saturday, August 8, 18:05 ET
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
TV: Fox Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, WNNX 100.5, Braves Radio Network
