Didier Fuentes will be the starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves tonight as he makes his return to the big leagues. Here’s hoping that he’s ready this time because as the Washington Nationals have proved over the course of the season so far and these first two games, their lineup is one that should definitely be taken seriously.
Washington has gotten off to a quick start in both of the previously-played games in this series so far and in Tuesday’s game, they really poured it on. Bryce Elder was
able to calm down and clamp down on the Nats after giving up two runs in the first but Reynaldo López was unable to find similar success. López was rightfully pulled after giving up four earned runs with just three total outs recorded and while Jose Suarez, Dylan Dodd and Aaron Bummer did slow down the Nats a bit, the floodgates came open in the latter stages as the Nationals offense put the game away late.
Heading into this game, the Nationals now have a team wRC+ of 109, which places them in the top five of all offenses in the National League right now. They’re hitting .253/.334/.404 as a unit with a .333 wOBA and a .334 xwOBA, so this isn’t just them getting lucky either. Their .300 BABIP is tied for 10th in baseball right now but not too far from the middle of the pack, so there’s further proof that this lineup has been legit so far.
It’s also a bit concerning that they’ve done this through the first two games with CJ Abrams still having yet to record a hit. He scored two runs in the series opener as he scored both times he reached base in that one but he’s also in the midst of a four-game hitless streak. I’d imagine that that’s going to end sooner rather than later but at the same time, let’s all hope that Didier Fuentes and Atlanta’s pitching staff can continue to make things tough for him. James Wood will still be lurking and the rest of Washington’s lineup has been coming together to get the job done as well but as long as the Braves can keep Abrams quiet, things should still be manageable for Atlanta.
Fuentes will be entering this game after having made three starts in the minors following his first start of the season with the big-league Braves. He struck out seven batters over just 3.2 on April 3 against Texas’s Triple-A affiliate and then went six innings and struck out eight against the Triple-A squad for Milwaukee. He did slip up against the Memphis Redbirds as he gave up four runs in seven innings but he did strike out five, so there’s that. He also hit a batter in each of those three appearances so that might be something to watch out for in this one.
Either way, this figures to be more of a stern test for Fuentes at the big-league level than what he got from the Royals. He did go four innings against Kansas City back on March 29 where he only gave up one run on two hits and a walk but as the stats suggest, the Royals don’t appear to have the same offensive firepower that the Nationals currently do. As such, we could end up seeing Fuentes stick around for a while if he does well against Washington — though that’ll be a tougher decision for the Braves to make since Spencer Strider appears to be close to being ready to return from injury, himself.
Ideally, the Braves would get a solid start from Didier Fuentes while making sure that Nationals starter Zack Littell picks up where he left off. The last start for Littell was absolutely miserable, as he was only about to go four innings while giving up eight runs on 11 hits and a walk. He’s made four appearances so far this season and he’s given up at least three runs in three of those four appearances. Littell definitely has the potential to be better than what he’s shown so far but this is still an opportunity for the Braves lineup to continue hitting the ball well.
In fact, the last time Littell saw the Braves was back in 2024. In the midst of what ended up being a career-best season for Littell, he showed up at Truist Park ended up getting tagged for six runs in just two innings of work. Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies both picked up hits against him and then Matt Olson collected a double against him as well. Austin Riley in particular had a lovely time dealing with Littell, as he picked up an RBI double and a two-run dinger against him during that game back in 2024. With Riley currently getting rolling again, I’d say that this is a pretty good time to see this matchup go in favor of Riley and the Braves one more time.
Nothing about this series has been straightforward so far and I don’t think that it’ll change here in the third game of the series. The main constant that we’ve seen is that the hitting for both teams is here to stay — the Nationals have proven that they can break out at any moment and the Braves have continued to swing the bat pretty well, themselves. In the series preview I did say that I liked Atlanta’s chances in any given slugfest that might break out between these two but the Nationals got one-up on the Braves instead on Tuesday night. If it happens again, the Braves could have more firepower to outlast the Nationals in this one. Either way, I have a feeling that we’re going to be in for another fascinating game of baseball between these two. Let’s see what happens, shall we?
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, April 22, 6:45 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park, Washington, DC
TV: BravesVision
Streaming: Braves.tv, MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
