The Atlanta Braves are facing the Minnesota Twins tonight with eyes on a sweep and it appears their lineup may be coming together.
After being in the bottom five in MLB for most of the season on offense, they have scored the ninth most runs in all of MLB in the month of August. Much like in 2021, the new acquisitions have been a large part in this uptick in offense.
Since joining the Braves, Whit Merrifield has a slash line of .291/.402/.419, Ramón Laureano has a slash line of .301/.333/.529, and Jorge Soler has a slash line of .207/.378/.448. These performances have been a huge boon, especially in the on base department.
The Braves will be facing David Festa, who is a rookie. He has only ever faced Gio Urshela before when he was on the Tigers. Urshela had one hit in two at-bats.
Don’t let Festa’s ERA fool you. He allowed seven of his twenty-one earned runs in the single game in which Urshela had his hit. Other than that outing, Festa has done well. Since that game he has pitched to a much better 3.08 ERA over 25.1 innings in five starts and one relief appearance. Hitters have slashed .212/.291/.384 against him. Even with his poor start against the Tigers, his expected ERA (xERA) on the season is 4.20.
The question for the Braves’ lineup is what it has been for the past few weeks, which is who will be in the outfield, and who will be getting the start at catcher.
Kelenic gets the night off with red hot Laureano playing LF. Murphy will start at catcher, and Luke Williams will get the start at 3B.
Chris Sale has been lights out for most of the year, but especially since July where he has had a 2.33 ERA, 1.65 FIP and hitters slashing .239/.297/.323. One thing that makes it even more impressive is that hitters have actually been lucky against him with a .367 BABIP (thanks Soler).
Although Sale has been in the league since 2010, only two hitters on the Twins have seen him more than six at-bats. Both of these hitters have found success against Sale. Manuel Margot, who has a small sample of seven at-bats has a .429 average and .858 OPS against Sale. Carlos Santana, who has a whopping forty-five at-bats against Sale in his career, has a .311 average and .811 OPS with two HRs.
Hopefully Sale can contain Margot and Santana and continue his Cy Young caliber season this evening.
First pitch is at 7:40
