Bryce Elder gets the ball Friday night with the Braves trying to lock down a split against the Nationals, and the right-hander arrives with a little momentum on his side.
Elder has been steadier in his last two outings. He worked six innings against the Padres and allowed two runs, then followed that up on July 25 against the Orioles with eight strikeouts, one earned run and two runs allowed overall. For a pitcher who was struggling badly in his final four starts before the break, that’s a solid way to open the second half.
There’s also a recent matchup with Washington that points in the same direction. Elder faced the Nationals on May 22 and gave Atlanta six innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts.
The lone damage came on a sixth-inning homer after he left a pitch over the middle for Curtis Mead to drive out. Mead is now with the Red Sox, while the walk-off hero from that night, Chadwick Tromp, is now with the Orioles, so the cast has changed quite a bit since then.
Still, Elder can’t afford to leave anything hanging against a Nationals lineup built to punish mistakes.
Atlanta’s offense, meanwhile, will try to solve Foster Griffin again. That has gone both ways this season.
In April, the Braves scored three runs off Griffin, but Washington’s bats answered against Reynaldo López and the back end of the bullpen, turning that game into a wash for Atlanta. Then on May 24, Griffin shut the Braves down completely, throwing six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and one walk while keeping Atlanta off the board in a low-scoring Nationals win.
Griffin is one of the few Washington pitchers the club can really count on, and the numbers back that up. Four Nationals pitchers have topped 100 innings this season, and Griffin and Cavalli are the two who have been good, while Zack Littell and Miles Mikolas have negative fWAR. That means Atlanta can’t just assume runs will come easy; the Braves need to do real damage if they want to take this one.
Still, the matchup leans Atlanta’s way. FanGraphs gives the Braves close to a 60-percent chance to win, a sign that the model likes their offense against the left-handed Griffin and thinks Elder has a chance to keep Washington quiet again. If Atlanta keeps rolling the way it has for much of the time since the All-Star break, it should like its odds here.
In Other News...
Braves Prospects Just Put Together A Night Fans Cant Ignore
The Braves farm system had one of those nights that can make a player-development staff smile all the way through the box scores. All four full-season affiliates won, and the offense was spread across the system, with three clubs putting up 11 runs or more and the fourth still reaching seven. Patrick Clohisy kept getting on base for Gwinnett, while Brewer Hicklen, Carson Taylor, Adam Zebrowski and Mason Guerra all supplied the kind of extra-base damage that tends to stand out in a long minor league season.
There was pitching to match the bats, too. Lucas Braun worked a quality start for Gwinnett, and Braden Scott turned in another encouraging outing for Columbus after arriving from the independent leagues. Nights like this do not guarantee anything in the majors, but they do reinforce why the Braves keep a close eye on the farm: there is real production coming from multiple levels at once, and a few of these names are starting to make a louder case for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Fans Were Left Wondering About Karl Ravech In The Booth
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Even after the layoff, Ravech has remained on select ESPN assignments, including baseball broadcasts and the Little League World Series. For viewers, that has created a strange in-between moment: a veteran broadcaster who is no longer part of the network in the same way, yet still turns up on the air when ESPN needs him. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Suddenly Pulled Into A Shortstop Rumor Fans Need To Watch
With the trade deadline drawing closer, the shortstop market is starting to take shape, and Zach Neto has emerged as one of the names worth watching. An MLB insider recently suggested the Angels could listen on Neto, even if nothing is guaranteed, which is enough to put several clubs on alert as they weigh their infield options. The Yankees are already being linked to the young shortstop, and the Braves are among the teams to keep an eye on if the Angels decide to move him.
The bigger picture is that this is still more rumor than reality, and that matters for a Braves club that could be looking for a jolt without wanting to overpay. Neto is the kind of player who can quickly become a deadline talking point because of both his age and his value, but there is no certainty he actually changes teams. For Atlanta, the interest is obvious, the fit is easy to see, and the waiting game is just beginning. [Read more 🡒]