With the Braves having solidly won game 1, they will look to secure the series win in San Diego behind Reynaldo Lopez in a primetime matchup on FOX.
Lopez has probably been closer to “pretty good” than All-Star level this season, but even that is quite valuable and much better than anyone expected when he was signed and it was reported that he would start. His ERA has been a spectacular 1.71 so far, with his FIP, xFIP, and xERA landing somewhere around 3.1-4.2, which is still quite useful. The walks seem to have ticked up recently, which will be something to keep an eye on as he gets deeper into the season as a starter, which he hasn’t done in recent years. He has had a ton of success off the back of his slider, which he has located well and added some depth to this season. This isn’t Bryce Elder level All-Star mirage, so although some regression is expected, he hopefully will regress more to a mid-rotation arm than the really rough second half we saw from Elder last year.
On the other side, the Padres will send Dylan Cease to the mound. Cease was a big story of the offseason and at one point was considered a major Braves’ target, but the Padres pulled off another major trade under AJ Preller. Cease has been on the opposite end of Reynaldo this season, as he has a FIP similar to Lopez and better xFIP and xERA numbers, but he’s gotten unlucky to see his ERA significantly higher than his peripherals. They’ve been roughly similar level pitchers this season overall, with perhaps a slight nod to Cease, but have had wildly different run-prevention outcomes. Similarly to Lopez, he is primarily a two-pitch pitcher, using his four-seamer and slider about 90% of the time. Cease’s slider is a fantastic pitch and has been very effective, but his fastball has gotten absolutely hammered this season, although it produced less bad results last season. He will mix in the occasional knuckle-curve, which is also fairly hittable. Braves hitters should really go in looking to do damage off of the fastball, but watch out for that nasty slider.
Marcell Ozuna has already set the Atlanta record for RBIs before the All-Star break, so let’s see how many he can add on in these final two games. This is really incredible, given that the Braves have only been a middling team in the league at scoring runs this season.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, July 12, 7:15 p.m. ET
Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California
TV: FOX
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM
