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With just 12 regular season games remaining, the Atlanta Braves will try to snap a two-game skid and get back on track Friday night when they continue a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Atlanta suffered a 1-0 defeat in the opener Thursday night as they were unable to come up with a key hit while leaving nine men on base. The loss dropped them to 1.5 games behind the New York Mets, who will begin a three-game series in Oakland Friday night.
Jake Odorizzi will match up for the second straight start against Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola. Odorizzi pitched well early on, but was unable to get through the fifth inning. He allowed just two hits, a walk and a run to go along with five strikeouts on 93 pitches. Odorizzi, who was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline, has made seven starts for Atlanta and has a 4.54 ERA and a 5.28 FIP in 33 2⁄3 innings.
The Braves went on to win that game against Nola, 4-3 with Ronald Acuña Jr. accounting for all of the scoring with a two-run home run and then a two-run double. To his credit, Nola settled in and was able to give the Phillies seven innings while allowing seven hits, two walks and four runs with eight strikeouts.
Atlanta has scored just five runs in its last three games combined. Acuña was a late scratch from Thursday’s lineup due to tightness in his mid-back area. His status for Friday’s game is unknown at this point. If anything good came out of Thursday’s loss it was that Austin Riley accounted for three of the Braves’ six hits in the game. Riley came into Thursday’s game hitting just .191/.273/.426 with a 92 wRC+ in September. Getting him going offensively would be a huge boost for Atlanta’s offense heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
Friday’s game has a scheduled start time of 7:05 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports South.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, September 23, 7:05 p.m. ET
Location: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
TV: Bally sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
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