Braves turn to Bryce Elder, but will need the offense to show up to even series

Spencer Strider tossed an absolute gem on Friday, striking out 12 over 6.2 innings. Unfortunately, the offense got shut out, so this start was wasted by the team. The Braves will turn to Bryce Elder today, who has been brilliant this season, but is unlikely to give a performance on that level, especially against a good Toronto lineup. Ivan put up a great piece on some of the subtleties of Elder’s approach earlier this week. The real story of the day is whether the offense can get off the mat and put up some real run support, which they were unable to do yesterday against Chris Bassitt.

The Braves offense will face Jose Berrios, who was once upon a time a big trade acquisition for Toronto from Minnesota, and received a big contract extension to boot. This hasn’t worked out well for Toronto so far, as Berrios had a really rough 2022 season, his first full year after the trade. His ERA and xERA are not looking very good this year either, although his FIP and xFIP sit respectably in the low 3’s. Berrios finds the most success using his changeup and slurve, and doesn’t walk many batters. With that being said, this is not the top of the rotation level challenge that Toronto likely envisioned when making the trade and subsequent extension. Here’s hoping the Braves offense can make that trade look only worse.

Game Info

Atlanta Braves @ Toronto Blue Jays

Saturday, May 13, 2023

3:07 pm EDT

Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON

TV: Bankruptcy Sports Southeast

Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan

XM Radio: Online, Ch. 180