Mike Soroka, Braves look to finish off sweep of Nationals

In a series that was billed as a matchup of two of the best teams in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves now stand alone. The Braves will look to complete a four-game sweep on Sunday against Max Scherzer and the Washington Nationals and move a step closer to clinching their second straight NL East division crown.

Atlanta has won nine-straight overall and 13 straight at SunTrust Park which is a modern era record. They will enter Sunday with a 10-game lead in the division with their magic number at 11. If anything, this run of success has given them the reason to aim higher as they now trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by just 2.5 games for the best record in the National League.

Mike Soroka will be on the mound for the Braves on Sunday. Soroka has been a little more hittable of late but has still be the mark of consistency. He has allowed three runs or less in eight straight starts. He allowed two home runs for the first time in his career in his last outing but still held the Blue Jays to five hits and three runs over five innings. Soroka has faced the Nationals three times this season allowing 13 hits and five runs in 15 innings while striking out eight and walking five.

Scherzer will be making his first start against Atlanta this season and just his fifth since the All-Star break due to back issues. The Nationals have been slowly building Scherzer back up in the second half and he topped 90 pitches in his last outing against the Mets where he allowed five hits and four runs over six innings but said that he felt good afterwards despite the results.

Atlanta has rode a power surge through the first three games of the series. They homered four more times in Saturday’s win giving them seven in the first three games. Ozzie Albies and Josh Donaldson have homered in two straight games.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. ET and can be seen on Fox Sports South.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, September 8, 1:20 p.m. ET

Location: SunTrust Park, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: Fox Sports South

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, Rock 100.5, Braves Radio Network