The Atlanta Braves are facing the Milwaukee Brewers for the seventh time in eleven days and are looking to end their four game losing streak as they bring Charlie Morton to the mound to face trade deadline acquisition Frankie Montas.
The Braves did end their twenty-four inning scoreless streak last night, but were unable to prevent the Brewers from their continued scoring barrage against them. The Braves have allowed eighteen runs in two games against the Brewers so far. In their four game losing streak, the Braves have been outscored twenty-nine to eight.
Of course, the key to finishing out this series strong is to get the pitching under control. The Braves still have given up the fewest earned runs (and lowest ERA) in the NL and second fewest in MLB this season. But, this past week they have been twenty-fourth in MLB in ERA as a unit (5.33).
Charlie Morton will be the one to try and stop sudden drop off in pitching performance. Since the start of July, Morton has had up and down performances. He has given up three, four, zero, five, and zero earned runs in that order in his last five starts. These past five starts have equated to 4.10 ERA, and 6.09 FIP over 26.1 innings. Hitters have had a .267/.330/.515 slash line against him during this time, so it is no shock that his FIP has been much higher than his ERA.
That being said, only four players on the Brewers have ever faced Morton before and have mostly struggled. Jake Bauers has a 1.116 OPS against Morton in seven at-bats, but no one else has an OPS above .684. Gary Sánchez, Willy Adames, and Rhys Hoskins have all faced Morton with eighteen, twelve, and twenty-two at-bats respectively.
The Braves are facing Frankie Montas for the second time in two weeks. Last time they faced him, he was pitching for Reds at the time. The Braves lost that game 4-9, but their offense was successful against Montas. They were able to tag ten hits (nine singles), three walks, and four earned runs on him in only 4.1 innings pitched.
Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and Orlando Arcia all had two hits against him with Arcia also drawing a walk. Only two players on the Braves have faced Montas in more than eight at-bats. Whit Merrifield has twenty at-bats against him and has been very successful with a .400 average and .905 OPS. Jarred Kelenic has also done well with a .333 average and 1.233 OPS in nine at-bats.
Hopefully the Braves can get to Montas like they did last time while also being able to stop the Brewers from putting up a large number of runs. ESPN currently gives the Braves a 53.9 percent chance of winning at the time of this writing.
First pitch is at 12:20 ET.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, August 8, 12:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA.
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
