Eli White starts in center as Braves continue series against Royals

The Braves lineup looks about as we have come to expect for the top half of the lineup with Harris and d’Arnaud out. Vaughn Grissom moves up a spot to sixth, while Marcell Ozuna returns to the lineup (blessedly only at DH). Eli White and Kevin Pillar bat eighth and ninth, manning the center field and left field spots, replacing the lefty Hilliard against a left-handed pitcher for Kansas City in Bubic. The top four of Atlanta’s lineup, featuring Sean Murphy as of recently have been on a tear, with 2023 wRC+ numbers of 181, 176, 158, and 156, respectively. Murphy has been fantastic after a rough first game or two at the plate and Matt Olson homered again last night after striking out for the last seven plate appearances of his series against the Reds. Ronald Acuna got back on the home run train last night after a mini-drought of home runs for him, during which he was still absolutely raking. He is firmly in 40-40 contention early in the season.