Bryce Elder has struggled mightily as of late. Can he turn things around?
The Atlanta Braves are looking to get some footing and to go on a much-needed win streak as they face the San Francisco Giants at home.
The Giants will bring Hayden Birdsong to the mound, who faced the Braves earlier this season on June sixth. The Braves got to him early by drawing five walks in 4.1 innings and ended up scoring two runs on two hits. The Braves ended up losing the game in the tenth inning.
The key to this game is going to be continuing to draw walks and have some timely hitting. Birdsong has given up twenty-one walks and twenty-five hits in his past 27.2 innings. This has resulted in a 6.51 ERA and 6.38 FIP in that timeframe.
No Braves player on the roster has more than four ABs against Birdsong. Sean Murphy has a HR against him in his three ABs, and Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. each have a hit off of him in their two at-bats.
Bryce Elder will be taking the mound for the Braves, and he has been even worse. He did have the best start of his career when he went 8.0 innings where he had twelve strikeouts, zero walks, and one earned run on three hits. However, since then he has arguably been the worst starter in MLB. In 22.1 innings he has twelve walks and forty-one hits (seven HRs). To put that in perspective, he is almost averaging two hits per inning. This has resulted in an unsightly 9.67 ERA and 7.39 FIP.
Willy Adames has seen Bryce Elder more than any other player on the Giants’ roster with thirteen ABs, I which he has been successful with two HRs and a 1.055 OPS. No other player on the roster has more than five ABs against Elder.
One good sign for Bryce Elder is that since the start of July, only five teams have scored fewer runs. Of course, this is not an exact science since it depends on the strength of the pitchers faced in that timeframe, but it is still a good sign.
On the entire season, the Giants have scored two more runs than the Braves. The Giants have had the best bullpen in MLB this season terms of ERA so the Braves’ offense is going to have to jump on Birdsong early and hope Bryce Elder can hold back the Giants’ below average offense enough.
The Braves have lucked out this series and are not projected to face the Giants’ best rotation arms. This is the time for the Braves to make a statement if they want any chance of making a late season push for the playoffs. The odds are taking a nosedive by the day.
First pitch is at 7:15 EDT
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Monday, July 21, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: FanDuel Sports South, FanDuel Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan