The Braves are back home after another successful road trip. They’ll face Toronto and Pittsburgh now at home, but Toronto comes first and former Brave Kevin Gausman will take the mound Tuesday.
Gausman has essentially pitched at a star level since leaving the Braves, as they seem to have done the right scouting, but couldn’t quite get the development right with him. The 35 year old righty is essentially a two-pitch pitcher, throwing his four-seamer and sinker over 90% of the time, with a token slider
for a different look. The fastball sits around 94 with good extension and great life, particularly in the horizontal axis. His splitter has strong horizontal break as well and he throws it below the zone often for a bunch of whiffs. He’s a very good pitcher, but a righty probably is better for the Braves’ current platoon splits, so hopefully they can hit him well.
Bryce Elder will be on the mound and while he has looked more like an enhanced Bryce Elder than prime Corey Kluber of late, he is having a good year and giving the Braves a chance to win when he takes the mound. He is coming off of his worst start by far, as a lack of strikeouts, bad defense, and BABIP luck resulted in 6 runs over 3.1 innings. He’ll hope to bounce back against a Toronto lineup that has talent but has been a huge disappointment this season, with a bottom 10 team wRC+ of 94. Hopefully they stay disappointing and don’t find their talent again while in Atlanta. This seems like a solid bounce-back opportunity for Bryce and the Braves might need that from him against Gausman.
Game Info
Game Time: Monday, June 1st, 7:15 pm EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
Watch: BravesVision
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
