St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves preview: Gavin Floyd’s debut

Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons (19) makes a diving stop for an out in the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

After yet another disappointing night at Turner Field on Monday, the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals are back together for a battle on Tuesday night. The headliner in this particular game is the Braves debut of right-hander Gavin Floyd, and he will be charged with stopping what has been a brutal seven-game losing streak.

After some encouraging Minor League statistics, Floyd arrives in the rotation (as he replaces the injured Ervin Santana for this start), and it will be very interesting to see how he looks. The 31-year-old right-hander hasn’t pitched in a full season since 2012, when he posted a 4.29 ERA over 168 innings with the White Sox, but the Braves clearly believe in his talents, and the National League should help him in the overall numbers. Against the Cardinals lineup, there is little time to breathe, but Floyd could be effective if his stuff is right.

For St. Louis, left-hander Tyler Lyons gets the ball for just the third time this season, as he was summoned to the rotation to replace the injured Joe Kelly, who went down just over two weeks ago. Lyons has a nice pedigree, but has only thrown 68 Major League innings and has been roughed up a bit to the tune of a 4.63 ERA. In the past, unknown left-handers have given the Braves fits, though, and nothing is a given with the uneven (to be kind) recent track record of the offense.

Here is a look at the particulars for Tuesday:

Date: May 6, 2014

Start Time: 7:10 p.m.

TV Channel: SportSouth

Radio: 680 AM/106.7 FM (Local in Atlanta), Full list of Local Affiliates

Live Stream: MLB.tv (Click Here, $)

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