Atlanta Braves to Host Rays for a Two-Game Set

After the Atlanta Braves completed a series sweep of the Miami Marlins in South Beach, where we saw Shelby Miller pitch so well Sunday afternoon that it cost former Marlins skipper Mike Redmond his job, Atlanta will host the Tampa Bay Rays at Turner Field for a two-game set.  These will be the first interleague games since Atlanta took two of three in Toronto over a month ago.

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Atlanta (18-19) looks to get back over .500 hopefully by the end of Wednesday’s game.  Tampa Bay (21-18) are just one game back of the New York Yankees for the AL East lead.  Who saw either the Rays or Yankees outplaying Baltimore, Boston, and Toronto through the first quarter of the MLB season?  The Braves have improved drastically at the plate in 2015.  The only team that strikes out fewer times than the Braves is the Kansas City Royals.  Atlanta’s starting staff has looked better of late but the bullpen might be a year-long issue for the Braves ball club.

Tampa might be just a tad worse than the Atlanta Braves offensively as both teams are eerily similar in team batting categories.  Atlanta likes to play small ball more than Tampa, but that’s assumed as the Rays play in the American League.  Where Tampa is getting most of its production is through its pitching staff.  The Rays are in the top three in the American League in most team pitching categories.  They also are incredible defensively as they have a .989 fielding percentage, committing just 15 errors on the season, tied for the best in the AL.

Tonight’s starter are Mike Foltynewicz (2-0, 4.24 ERA) and Erasmo Ramirez (1-1, 6.66 ERA).  Folty looks to keep the winning streak alive with a great start at home.  He pitched well in his last start at Cincinnati but a throwing error cost him a chance to earn the win and ended up with a no decision.  Ramirez has pitched both in the rotation and out of the bullpen for the Rays.  He hopes to improve, or worsen, his devilish ERA in his fourth start on the season for Tampa.

In tomorrow’s finale the Braves send out rookie Williams Perez (0-0, 15.43 ERA) to take on Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 2.36 ERA) of the Tampa Bay Rays.  Perez will make his first big league start Wednesday night as Eric Stults is now in the Braves bullpen.  Williams looks to lower is highly inflated ERA back to somewhere decent.  2.1 inning pitched and four earned runs on the year is Perez’s stat line on the year.  In his last appearance, Perez dropped his ERA from 108 to 15.43.  I like his odds to bring that total down further in his first Major League start.

Atlanta and Tampa Bay have been pleasant surprises so far in the 2015 season.  Many experts believed that these were going to end up as two of the worst teams in baseball when it was all said and done.  Much of that has to do with John Hart’s offseason trades and Joe Maddon now managing the Chicago Cubs.  Let’s see if the Braves can make it five wins in a row if Atlanta sweeps the Rays in the next 48 hours.  Let’s Go Braves!