After dropping two of three in Philadelphia, the Atlanta Braves return home Friday where they will begin a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves enter the series opener with a 59-41 record and are three games back of the New York Mets in the NL East standings. Arizona enters the series with a 45-53 and are in fourth place in the NL West.
Kyle Wright will get the start in the opener and will be looking to finish off a solid July. Wright allowed two runs and struck out eight in his last start against the Angels. Dating back to his final start in June, Wright has logged at least six innings in four of his last five starts. The one start that he didn’t was a four-inning stint against the Cardinals that he didn’t return in after a lengthy rain delay. Wright faced the Diamondbacks back on June 1 and tossed six scoreless innings despite a season-high five walks.
Veteran left-hander Madison Bumgarner will be on the mound for Arizona in a rematch of that June 1 matchup against Wright. Bumgarner has pitched well in his career against Atlanta, but came up short against Wright allowing two runs over six innings. He is coming off one of his best starts of the season where he allowed two runs and struck out nine in eight innings against the Nationals.
Austin Riley saw his 18-game hitting streak come to an end Wednesday in Philadelphia, but he has to be one of the favorites to win July’s Player of the Month award after his performance. Riley is hitting .413/.455/.859 with 11 doubles, 10 home runs and a 259 wRC+ over his last 23 games. Matt Olson has homered in two straight games and has eight in July which is a season-high for a month.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is expected to return to the lineup for Friday’s series opener after sitting out Wednesday’s finale against the Phillies. Acuña is hitting just .214 and has just four hits in his last 25 at-bats overs his last six games.
Friday’s game has a scheduled start time of 7:20 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, July 29, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
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