Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants preview: Hitting the west coast

Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward (22) and shortstop Andrelton Simmons (19) react after defeating the Chicago Cubs at Turner Field. The Braves defeated the Cubs 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves have officially broken out of the doldrums as a result of a sweep over the Chicago Cubs this weekend, but the schedule doesn’t do the team any favors this week. In accordance with that, the Braves are on the west coast at the beginning of the week, and Atlanta is set to take on the San Francisco Giants in a late night battle on Monday night.

On the field, the biggest story in this series opener is the second start of the season for right-hander Gavin Floyd. Floyd was electric in his debut, allowing only one earned run over seven innings of quality ball, and that allowed Fredi Gonzalez to subsequently move Alex Wood to the bullpen for the time being. With that, though, there is a bit of pressure on Floyd to follow up that outing with another solid performance here, and all eyes will be on the mound.

Against him, the Giants will send former Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum to the hill, but he is anything but the same pitcher that was formerly one of the game’s elite. Lincecum is still only 29 years old, but his performance has dipped in a huge way recently, posting two straight years with an ERA north of 4.30, and it hasn’t been much better this year (5.55 ERA over seven starts). There is always a possibility that he will turn back the clock, but this isn’t a terrifying match-up for Atlanta.

Here is a look at the particulars for Monday:

Date: May 12, 2014

Start Time: 10:15 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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