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Braves vs Phillies Preview: Braves look to Chris Sale to secure the sweep in Philly.

Chris Sale will make his Atlanta debut with a big opportunity to snag an opening weekend sweep in Philadelphia against Ranger Suarez and the Phillies’ formidable lineup.

Sale is coming off of a strong spring, with sky-high strikeout numbers and is by all indications as healthy as he has been in a while. He has been quite good when healthy, even if that hasn’t been as often in recent years, so we should expect him to be a strong pitcher coming into the season.

Being a lefty should be an advantage for Sale against Schwarber and Harper at the top of the Philly lineup, so Philly will surely be hoping that Trea Turner and JT Realmuto can have success and lead the way against Sale. If Sale can keep Turner’s speed off the basepaths and prevent him from driving in runs, it would really gum up Philadelphia’s offense on the day. Turner has historically hit lefties quite well, so this will be a matchup to focus on.

Ranger Suarez gets the start for Philly and he has pitched pretty well against Atlanta recently. His modest strikeout rates and reasonably high ground ball rates aren’t exactly a terrifying profile, however, and he has not been anything more than a solid middle rotation pitcher overall in his career. Any time we get to see Ozzie turn around and bat from the right side of the plate, it is always a treat, and hopefully we can see him rake against Suarez and be an engine within that top 4 of death in the Braves’ dominant offense.

With a lefty on the mound, we should expect to see Adam Duvall in left field, replacing Kelenic, who has starter the season hot. We should also keep an eye on whether Travis d’Arnaud or Chadwick Tromp gets the start at catcher, with Sean Murphy out for a little while with an oblique strain.