Martín Pérez takes the mound as Braves look to rebound vs Mets

The Atlanta Braves lost an incredibly frustrating game one against the Mets yesterday and look to rebound tonight behind Martín Pérez. Fifteen years into his career and Pérez is quietly putting together the second-best season of his career. He has already accumulated the second most WAR in a season

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What is the story about?

The Atlanta Braves lost an incredibly frustrating game one against the Mets yesterday and look to rebound tonight behind Martín Pérez.

Fifteen years into his career and Pérez is quietly putting together the second-best season of his career. He has already accumulated the second most WAR in a season of his career and with his ERA of 3.14, it is also his second best.

Now, he has had some luck on his side. He has an expected ERA (xERA) of 4.32 and that is largely due to a BABIP of .232 which is well below

his career .303, and a strand rate of 79.7 percent which is well above his career 71.4 percent. That being said, Pérez has been arguably the best pickup for the Braves this offseason.

Pérez faced the Mets in the first week of July and struggled. In 4.1 innings he only gave up six hits, but they resulted in four earned runs, while only picking up one strikeout to two walks.

In that game A.J. Ewing hit a solo shot off him and the team went five for seven with RISP. There is a chance that Pérez will have better results based on the chances of stranding more runners.

Francisco Lindor is a player to keep an eye out for. He has had twenty-five ABs against Pérez in his career and has maintained an OPS of 1.213. Bo Bichette has also had success with an OPS of 1.100 in fifteen at-bats. Marcus Semien has had an astounding forty-one ABs against Pérez in his career and holds a batting average of .268.

In a twist of fate, Nolan McLean will be facing off against Martín Pérez for a second time in as many outings. In the game mentioned earlier, it was a high scoring affair where the Mets ultimately won 10-9. This was not due to Mclean though who pitched 6.0 innings where he surrendered two earned runs and struck out five to only one walk.

Since the All-Star break, both offenses have been performing close to the same. The Braves scored the seventh most runs, and the Mets scored the tenth most. In terms of team ERA, the teams are fairly close there as well since the break. The Braves have had the twelfth best in MLB with 3.77 and the Mets have been eighth best with 3.55.

Based on team stats alone this game could come down to which team scores early, much like last night. The Braves have the third best SP ERA since the break, but the Mets have the ninth worst. No pressure to Pérez, but this game really could come down to if he can bounce back against the Mets and have a better start than last time.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT