Braves attempt to tie franchise record for wins in June as Kyle Wright faces Phillies

Following a two-run victory in last night’s game against the Phillies, the Braves are now looking to win the series with a victory tonight while also tying a franchise record for wins in the month of June.

The Braves are 20-5 this month and a lot of that has to do with the fact that the Braves have had the best pitching staff in baseball in June and it hasn’t been close, really. Atlanta has had a team ERA- and FIP- of 75 and 74, respectively. While four other teams have had ERA- numbers in the 70s this month, no other team has had a FIP in the 70s. The Braves have had both, and they’ve been pitching lights out this month.

Hilariously enough, tonight’s starter for the Braves is a prime example of why this month has gone so well for them. Kyle Wright has been having a breakout season and it appears that the entire staff has been inspired by him from a sabermetric standpoint. Wright this season has had an ERA- of 75 and a FIP- of 74. Yep, you read that correctly. The Braves pitching staff as a whole in June has basically been a collective 2022 Kyle Wright. Ah, the joy of numbers.

Anyways, Wright will be looking to improve on his last start against the Phillies back in May. Wright got into the seventh inning but ended up with three earned runs on his line that night — two of them coming after Will Smith gave up a two-run double to Odubel Herrera. The Braves ended up dropping that game 4-1, so hopefully Wright will be able to do a bit better in this game instead of throwing some stressful innings like his last outing against Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, the Braves would love to have a repeat performance of their last game against Philadelphia’s starter for tonight: Ranger Suárez. The Braves didn’t have much of an issue getting to Suárez in that one, as they scored five runs over just 4.1 innings against the 26-year-old pitcher. While that was Suárez’s worst start of the season, it’s not like it was a particularly bad outlier — Suárez has not been great this season, as he’s given up at least two runs in every start he’s had since throwing six shutout innings against the Mariners on May 9. With that being said, he did make it into the eighth inning with just two runs allowed against the Padres in his most recent start so he still needs to be taken seriously. Again, the Braves do have a recent history of getting to Ranger Suárez, so hopefully it happens tonight.

The Braves did well last night at the plate by really hitting Zack Wheeler hard and jumping on him early. With all due respect to Ranger Suárez, this should be an easier challenge for Atlanta tonight than Wheeler was. Additionally, expectations for Kyle Wright should be pretty high as well. The Braves have been having a historically-good month in terms of their franchise history and clinching a series victory tonight would be a great way to put a cherry on top of what’s been a fruitful month for the defending World Series champions.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, June 29, 7:05 p.m. ET

Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA

TV: Bally Sports South, MLB Network (out-of-market only)

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan