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Darius Vines makes season debut as Braves take on Astros

Fresh off of a series win in Miami, the Atlanta Braves will continue their road trip Monday when they begin a three-game series against the Houston Astros. Right-hander Darius Vines will make his season debut for Atlanta while rookie right-hander Spencer Arrighetti will be on the mound for Houston.

The Braves took two of three from the Marlins, but were down to their last strike Sunday when Marcell Ozuna connected on a three-run home run to help propel them to a 9-7 win. Atlanta again let an early lead slip away as Charlie Morton struggled through the middle innings, but the offense again bailed them out.

With Spencer Strider out for the remainder of the season, Atlanta needs the rest of its rotation to stabilize. Max Fried struggled through his first two starts, but looked more like himself in Friday’s series opening win in Miami. Chris Sale has pitched well but was tagged for five runs in seven innings Saturday. Charlie Morton had a nice debut start against the White Sox, but has let early leads slip away in each of his last two outings. Reynaldo Lopez has been good and will start Tuesday’s game in Houston.

Allan Winans got the first start in place of Spencer Strider. The second will go to Vines in Monday’s series opener. Vines missed a large portion of the 2023 season due to injury, but returned in the second half and made his major league debut appearing in five games including a pair of starts. He posted a 3.98 ERA and a 4.98 FIP in 20 ¹⁄₃ innings. Vines made two starts at Gwinnett before his call up and allowed five runs across 12 innings.

While Braves’ rotation is searching for stability, they aren’t going to get any sympathy from the Astros who are without four potential starters not counting Lance McCullers Jr. who hasn’t pitched since 2022. Justin Verlander has yet to throw a pitch this season due to a shoulder issue. Jose Urquidy is dealing with a forearm strain while Framber Valdez is dealing with a sore elbow. Houston already lost Luis Garcia to Tommy John surgery.

The Astros called up Arrighetti, their No. 3 prospect per Baseball America, in hopes that he can fill some of the void in the rotation. He struggled in his major league debut allowing seven hits and seven runs in just three innings against the Royals.

While the pitching staff has struggled, Atlanta has had no problem scoring runs and will enter play Monday tied for third in the majors with 91 runs scored. Marcell Ozuna has been a catalyst and is coming off a red hot series in Miami where he was 7-for-13 with a double, two home runs. He will carry a 13-game hitting streak into Monday’s game.

Monday’s game has a scheduled start time of 8:10 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.