The Braves finally have some momentum after two consecutive complete team victories, and grabbing a series win against a solid Tampa Bay team would further help get the season back on track.
The Braves finally have some momentum after two consecutive complete team victories, and grabbing a series win against a solid Tampa Bay team would further help get the season back on track. The team has been in a rut for a while now, which came to a head with a rough 5-game losing streak. The team has potentially started to turn things around, scoring 5 runs in back-to-back games for the first time in nearly two months (as our own Stephen pointed out), with Austin Riley in particular looking refreshed at home Friday. The two wins also featured more stellar pitching from Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale.
Atlanta will hope their offense can continue to flourish, even as they lost Michael Harris II to a hamstring injury in Friday’s game, which will force him to the IL. Ramon Laureano will replace him on the roster and could be in today’s lineup.
Either way, Charlie Morton will get the start and can hopefully give the Braves at least a solid outing. The results have been shaky over his last 3 starts, but he has been pretty steady this season overall, with a . Keeping the walks down will be key, as when he is off the walks and hit batsmen are often what hurt him.
The Rays will start Ryan Pepiot, who they acquired as part of the Tyler Glasnow trade. Pepiot has been pretty good for Tampa this year, to the tune of a 3.43 xFIP. He has some prospect pedigree and has pitched decently overall in his roughly 150 major league innings. He combines good extension with a mid-90s four-seam fastball that he gets impressive “rise” on as well. This is a very effective fastball for him and he throws it nearly 55% of the time. The rest of his pitches he splits roughly evenly between his slider, which is not a very good slider that lacks depth and a pretty good changeup. The Braves will likely have the most success on that slider of his, which he has hung quite a few times this year as well, but nothing about Pepiot approaches unhittable. Hopefully they can continue kindling their offense that seems to have found a spark again.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 15, 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM