A stretch that will likely determine the fate of the Braves’ pursuit of an NL East title begins Friday night in Philadelphia.
Atlanta, which holds a four-game lead over the Phillies in the division, kicks off a four-game series in Philadelphia at 6:40 p.m. ET, also beginning a run of seven games against the Phillies in 10 days which continues next weekend in Atlanta.
Luckily for the Braves, they do it with Chris Sale (13-9, 2.06 ERA) on the mound.
Unfortunately for them, they’ll have to face Phillies
starter Cristopher Sánchez (16-4, 2.52 ERA) in what sets up to be quite a matchup of southpaw aces.
Sale was given three extra days of rest after throwing a season-high 109 pitches in his complete-game shutout of the Dodgers last time out on August 27.
His first shutout since 2019 capped off another stellar month for the left-hander, even if his record didn’t show it. He was 1-3 despite posting a 2.00 ERA over 27 innings with 34 strikeouts to two walks in four August starts.
Sale now begins his final month of the regular season with his third start of the season against the Phillies. He made consecutive starts against Philadelphia back in April, recording a pair of wins while allowing one combined run on six hits over 13 innings, striking out 16 and walking three.
In nine career starts against the Phillies, Sale is 4-2 with a 3.23 ERA, 70 strikeouts and 11 walks.
This will be the second time this season Sánchez starts a game opposite Sale. They opposed each other in an April 18 game in Philadelphia, with Sánchez taking the loss that night as he allowed three unearned runs on eight hits over six innings.
While he fell to a 2-2 record at that time, Sánchez has had much better luck with results since, losing just two of his 16 decisions since that point. After the left-hander appeared to hit a wall of sorts when he posted a 6.65 ERA in four July starts, he bounced back with a vengeance in August, going 3-0 in six starts with a 1.72 ERA.
Sánchez, who debuted in 2021, has never earned a win against the Braves. He’s 0-4 with a 3.09 ERA in eight career appearances (seven starts) against Atlanta.
There’s an approximately 50% chance of rain in Philadelphia Friday afternoon, but that percentage falls lower into the evening, hopefully paving the path for uninterrupted outings for Sale and Sánchez.
Game Info
Game Time: Friday, September 4th, 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: BravesVision
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
