Saturday’s second game of the Atlanta Braves’ series at the Milwaukee Brewers doesn’t have the star power of the series opener.
But it does see two pitchers having quite successful seasons in an under-the-radar manner face off.
Atlanta will throw Martín Pérez (8-7, 3.15 ERA) against Milwaukee’s Logan Henderson (7-2, 2.70) in a 2:10 p.m. ET game the Braves could really stand to win after losing six of their last eight games to see their NL East lead reduced to four games.
Pérez is coming off one of his
worst starts of the season. He allowed all of his season-high-tying four earned runs in the first inning of Monday’s 4-2 loss at the Minnesota Twins. After that, he salvaged the outing, relatively speaking, by tossing four scoreless innings to give the offense a chance to wake up which it didn’t take.
Regardless of that start, it has still been an incredibly successful August for Pérez, with those four runs standing as the first he allowed in four August starts. He previously had combined for 16 shutout innings on five hits, striking out 11 and walking six, and has a 1.71 ERA this month — his best in a single month this season.
The left-hander doesn’t have the best track record against Milwaukee, though, entering with a 1-3 record and 7.24 ERA in six outings (five starts) against the Brewers. That lone win, however, came earlier this season with Atlanta when he tossed six innings of six-hit, one-run ball and outdueled Jacob Misiorowski in a 3-2 win on June 19.
Henderson has hit the ground running in his first full season with Milwaukee. The right-handed rookie missed six weeks with a low back strain — including the Brewers’ trip to Atlanta — but has always been impressively solid, bolstering a starting rotation which has the third-best ERA in baseball (3.50).
There’s nothing particularly fraudulent about his numbers either, as he has a 2.69 xERA, 3.38 FIP and 3.03 xFIP to go with his sterling ERA.
On probably the biggest stage of his career so far, he delivered probably his best career start last Sunday. He threw a career-high seven innings and gave up one run on three hits with six strikeouts and one walk in a 6-2 rubber-match defeat of the Dodgers.
Henderson is largely a three-pitch mix guy, throwing his fastball which averages 93.0 mph 45.6% of the time, his changeup 32.6% of the time and his cutter 18.5% of the time, occasionally mixing in a slider which he’s used for just 3.4% of his total pitches this season.
The one potential hole in his game is that he’s been susceptible to the long ball of late. Of the 10 homers he’s allowed this season, five of them have come in his three August starts.
Maybe that’s what the Braves’ lineup needs to awaken from its slumber which has once more led to them being locked into in a race to win the NL East.
Game Info
Game Time: Saturday, August 22nd, 2:10 pm EDT
Location: American Family Field, Milwaukee, WI
Watch: BravesVision
Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
