The Braves need to find some offense in Friday’s matchup against the Athletics
The Atlanta Braves will be looking to turn their homestand around Friday when they begin a three-game series against the Oakland Athletics. Reynaldo López will get the start for the Braves in the series opener while the Athletics will go with left-hander JP Sears.
The Braves come in struggling having dropped three of four games to the Washington Nationals. Atlanta is 31-23 for the season and have lost six of their last 10 games overall to fall 6.5 games back of the Phillies for the division lead. The Braves’ offensive downturn continued against the Nationals as they were just 3-for-26 with runners in scoring position for the series and struck out 43 times over the four games. Everyone in the lineup with the exception of Marcell Ozuna is pressing and making it extremely difficult to string anything together.
The only reason Atlanta hasn’t completely cratered is due to its pitching staff. Lopez will make his 10th start of the season on Friday with an extra day of rest. Lopez was originally slated to start Friday’s game, but the team elected to push him back to give him and the rest of the rotation an additional day of rest. Lopez is erratic in his last start where he allowed five hits and three runs although only two were earned. A rain delay led to his exit after 4 2⁄3 innings.
Sears is one of the few players left standing for the Athletics’ rotation which has been hammered with multiple injuries. Sears has been a fairly consistent option as well and has a 2.96 ERA through five starts in May. He allowed an unearned run in six innings against the Astros in his last start. Sears faced the Braves last season and allowed one run over six innings.
Austin Riley and Sean Murphy both returned to the lineup Monday. Riley missed just over two weeks with soreness in his side while Murphy had been out since Opening Day with an oblique strain. Neither have found their timing at the plate yet. Riley was 1-for-16 with five strikeouts in the four games against Washington. Murphy is 2-for-11 with three punch outs in three games since returning.
First pitch for Friday’s series opener is scheduled for 7:20 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, May 31, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan