Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies: Saturday doubleheader

Julio Teheran and the Atlanta Braves took the first game of a four-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies last night and could take the series with two wins during a doubleheader today.

Ervin Santana will try and get back in the win column in game one against Roberto Hernandez in game one, and David Hale will get his first start since April 26 during the second game against Sean O’Sullivan of the Phillies.

Both of these pitching matchups should be interesting to watch from the Braves perspective because hasn’t received a win in four starts and has given up 12 runs in his previous three. Meanwhile, Hale has worked predominantly out of the bullpen for Atlanta this year, but it’s possible that he can force his way into the rotation for the remainder of the year with some more strong starts and continued mediocrity from other members of the rotation.

During the second game, we should pay particular attention to Hale’s strikeout numbers and stuff, as his K/9 has dropped to a measley 4.07 this season–by far the lowest of his professional career. His walk rate is up as well and he should be thought of as pretty lucky to be posting a 3.14 ERA. Other numbers back that statement up: he’s got a 4.27 FIP, 4.88 xFIP and .256 BABIP.

In addition to watching the pitchers, we’ll have to look out for another big game from Freddie Freeman and see if there is an appearence from Evan Gattis. It would be tough to miss him for the entirety of tomorrow, because that would mean Ryan Doumit will be behind the plate for one of the games.

Regardless of who’s out there though, it should be a fun (albeit long) day of baseball, with tons of interesting storylines to watch out for. One of those just happens to be that the Braves could take over first place in the division again, with the Washington Nationals sporting an identical 41-38 record.

Here are the particulars for the day:

Date: June 28, 2014

Start Time: 2:05 pm and 7:15 pm ET

TV Channel: SportSouth, MLB Network (National)

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

Live Stream: MLB.tv (Click Here, $)

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