The Braves really need a win in this one and their young star will take the mound hoping to deliver just that
Well the Braves lost yet another frustrating game in which the offense failed to produce a reasonable amount of runs to win a baseball game, aided by some bad batted ball luck, in fairness. It’s getting late early for this Atlanta team, who have found themselves in quite a large hole for the end of May. They really need to start stacking wins and it is not an easy stretch of their schedule either. They have a series at home here against Boston an Truist Park has been their safe haven this season.
Spencer Schwellenbach will look to continue his more recent run of form after seriously struggling for a few games there. He gave up two homers and four runs (two earned), but his last outing was perhaps his most encouraging since his first two of the season, striking out 11 Padres over 7.0 innings. Hopefully we can get more of those strikeouts today. Spencer has struggled with being so much of a strike-thrower that he is conditioning hitters to swing, while simultaneously giving them too many pitches in the heart of the zone to work with. He still has a bunch of good pitches that he can all throw for strikes, but he needs to learn to nibble a bit more, while keeping his pitches competitive.
Offseason addition Walker Buehler will be taking the mound for Boston and he has been fine this season, but far from the ace he was many moons ago in LA, or even that his brief postseason success this past year had hinted he might be able to recover. Buehler has a 3.88 xFIP which is about in line with his ERA and xERA, but about a half run lower than his FIP. He continues to hover around the 8 K/9 number he has been stuck at since 2022, as he never seemed to fully recover from his injury woes. He is throwing a legitimate seven pitches with at least some real regularity, but he does focus on his four-seamer, sinker, and cutter. The low/mid 90s four-seamer is quite hittable, while no single pitch stands out, although his curveball has impressive drop.
Buehler is a guy the struggling Braves offense should be able to hit, but we’ve said that many times this season only to be disappointed. Only time will tell.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, May 31, 4:10 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: Fanduel Sport South/Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan