Braves look to complete sweep of Red Sox

Riding a three-game winning streak, the Atlanta Braves will wrap up a brief two-game series Wednesday evening against the Boston Red Sox. Sean Murphy finished with three hits and drove in four runs in support of Charlie Morton as the Braves took Tuesday’s opener, 9-3. Atlanta will go with a bullpen game in the series finale while Boston will start young right-hander Brayan Bello.

Wednesday’s start would have gone to Max Fried, but he was placed on the injured list Tuesday with a forearm strain. Brian Snitker confirmed a bullpen game for Atlanta following the win in the opener, but wasn’t ready to announce who would start the game. The Braves are currently carrying 10 relievers and the group is well rested after an off day Monday. Additionally, Morton covered six innings in Tuesday’s win with Kirby Yates, A.J. Minter and Danny Young handling the final three.

While Snitker could go in a number of directions to start, Collin McHugh, Michael Tonkin and Jesse Chavez are likely options to provide multiple innings Wednesday. Dylan Lee will get the start, given that the Red Sox will likely have lefties Alex Verdugo and Rafael Devers batting in the first inning.

Bello will be making his fifth start of the season and comes into it with a 5.71 ERA and a 5.34 FIP in 17 1/3 innings. A lot of that damage came in his first two starts where he allowed eight runs in 7 1/3 innings. He has allowed a total of three earned runs over his last 10 innings.

Murphy has continued to help carry Atlanta’s offense and is hitting .319/.446/.703 with a 203 wRC+ since April 8 when Travis d’Arnaud suffered a concussion. d’Arnaud was activated from the concussion list Monday, but did not play in Tuesday’s game. Orlando Arcia had three hits in the opener and is 4-for-8 with two doubles since returning from the injured list. Arcia made a couple of nice plays in the field and his performance continues to be one of the biggest surprises of the season.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, May 9, 7:20 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: Bally Sports South, MLB Network

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan