A lot has transpired since the Braves seemingly originated their June swoon in the Southside. The Braves, after two excruciating losses, departed Rate Field with a 45-23 record and a promise to return in August for the final contest of the three-game set. And here we are!
Instead of a much-needed off day in these dog days of summer, the 74-53 Braves are in Chicago for their second consecutive getaway day game and second consecutive attempt to salvage a series. As we know, they couldn’t get the job
done yesterday in Minnesota and got swept.
We had such hope for this makeup game – those June Braves were missing Drake Baldwin in a bad way. Ronald Acuña Jr. landed on the IL for his second hamstring strain stint after Game 1, effectively crowning Luisangel the victor in this matchup between brothers. “The Braves will be at full strength in August,” we said, needing a silver lining as much as a fanbase could while up 8.0 games in the division.
There’s a lot of baseball left, but the back-to-back series losses to the Diamondbacks and Twins don’t feel great with this 1) four-city road trip and 2) gauntlet of first-place teams that loom next. The Marlins couldn’t be counted on to help us out any, either, getting swept themselves by the Phillies. That brings the division lead to 4.5 games. Boy, that eight-game win streak feels like eons ago.
But we know this team has a “one game at a time” mentality. So my humble plea to the Bravos: let’s win this one. Please?
AJ Smith-Shawver’s return to the rotation in yesterday’s loss prompted a shuffling of starters. Instead of Chris Sale getting to face the Sox for a second time, Grant Holmes will toe the rubber for the Braves.
Holmes (7-5, 3.82 ERA) has the faith of his manager and team, if nothing else. After two scoreless, six-inning gems to start the month, some were having regrets about choice words said around the trade deadline. But the most recent taste in our mouth is the blow up start he had against Arizona: 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 6 earned runs, a homer, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Of his 65 pitches, 31 were in the zone and 9 were hard hit into fair territory. Following the start, Weiss stood by his guy.
But as we saw over the course of the Twins series, our starters are capable of grinding out quality outings, only to be left hanging high and dry by the offense. The existing pressure of needing to perform well might snowball with a pressure to be perfect, especially amid this skid. It’s a tough position to be in. But ultimately, we do want to see you succeed, Grant!
Former Rockie Brenton Doyle leads the team in amount of ABs against Holmes with five (.200 AVG / 1.133 OPS, a homer). Miguel Vargas has the other home run off of him. Of note, we did not see Munetaka Murakami in June due to his hamstring strain, but we are fervently hoping he doesn’t hit home run number 30 against the Braves today.
The White Sox will counter with left-hander Anthony Kay (9-5, 4.01 ERA). Prior to signing his two-year deal with the Sox in December, Kay pitched two seasons for the Yokohama Bay Stars in Japan. He’s tweaked his arsenal to adjust to MLB hitters, honing the changeup and sweeper to make the four-seam fastball and cutter more effective. He also throws a sinker a good bit, and the slider most rarely.
Lane Thomas is rocking a .444 batting average with 9 at-bats against Kay, the vast majority from Thomas’ days as a Royal earlier this season. Matt Olson’s 2 ABs are the next highest, and Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, Austin Riley, and Dominic Smith have seen him once. Sean Murphy’s 1-for-1 with a single. Dom’s line is eye-popping because he made his one AB really count with a grand slam off Kay in a Mets/Jays game in 2020.
More afternoon baseball awaits. First pitch is at 2:10 pm ET.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, August 20, 2:10 p.m. ET
Location: Rate Field, Chicago, IL
TV: BravesVision
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Los Bravos
