The Atlanta Braves are taking on the Washington Nationals looking to win their fourth game against them in three days.
The Braves’ offense has had there ups and downs all season long, which is evident by them being exactly in the middle at fifteenth in MLB in runs scored. Since the start of September the Braves have scored the seventeenth most runs. Michael Harris and Ozzie Albies have cooled off since their torrid streaks last month.
With Sean Murphy on the IL and Kim now being the everyday SS, there
have not been many question marks in the lineups in terms of who is starting other than who will get the day off to rest.
Today, Drake Baldwin is back starting, and will hit cleanup again and Marcell Ozuna is back in the lineup and will bat eighth. At the start of the year hearing that Ozuna would be hitting eighth would have sounded strange. Today, it makes more sense with his struggles this year. Although, hitting Harris ahead of him still seems odd, especially since he has drastically cooled off this month.
Also, can we take a second and talk about how Matt Olson has a 232 wRC+ since the start of September? That is good for second best in all of MLB. Only Daylen Lile of the Nationals has been better in that span, and he has half the HRs. Olson is tied with Cal Raleigh with the most HRs in September with six.
The Nationals have only had three players face Hurston Waldrep before. CJ Abrams is hitless in two ABs, Jacob Young has one walk and zero hits in one AB, and Luis García has one hit in his two at-bats. As mention early, Daylen Lile has been on a scorcher, so Waldrep needs to keep an eye out for him.
First pitch is at 4:05 EDT.
