The lineups have been released for tonight’s series opener between the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins. The Braves had a couple of nasty injury scares yesterday and as you can see from the title and the sub-headline, one guy is here and the other guy still needs a bit more time to recover.
Here’s the lineup for the Braves:
There’s a bit of “good news, bad news” with regards to this lineup. The good news is that Marcell Ozuna is in there, so he’s good to go after he fouled a ball off of his shin and was in great pain yesterday afternoon. The bad news is that Michael Harris II is absent from the lineup. As a result, Jarred Kelenic is playing center field and Whit Merrifield is leading off in a big league lineup for the first time since mid-June when he was with the Phillies. For what it’s worth, he wasn’t particularly effective in that role for the Phillies but he also wasn’t particularly effective in general as a member of the Phillies so maybe things will change now that he’s wearing a different uniform.
Here’s the lineup for the Twins:
Manuel Margot is making his first appearance in the leadoff spot since last Tuesday, which is when he went 1-for-4 with a single against the Padres. He usually gets the nod against left-handers and it’s clear that Rocco Baldelli is sticking to his guns in that regard. This is a pretty solid-looking lineup for sure and Fried will definitely be put to the test when it comes to keeping this group quiet.
Tonight’s game is scheduled to begin at 7:40 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports South and listened to on 680 The Fan/93.7 FM and the Braves Radio Network across the South.
