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Atlanta Braves Meet Pittsburgh Pirates at the Confluence

By John Buhler

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The Atlanta Braves head to Western Pennsylvania to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game series this weekend.  It’s a shame that the Braves only get to play in Pittsburgh once a year.  With PNC Park situated near the Confluence of the Ohio River, the Pirates have one of the most spectacular venues in all of baseball.

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Atlanta (35-38) looks to recover from a dreadful offensive performance in their last series against the rival Washington Nationals.  The Braves’ bats fell asleep in the nation’s capital, scoring just two runs in three games against the Nats.  For Atlanta to get back to .500 by the end of the weekend, the Braves would have to pull off a rare road sweep of the contending Pittsburgh Pirates.

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    • The Pirates are very much in the mix for a Wild Card spot with a 40-32 record.  Their .556 winning percentage would actually lead both the NL East and NL West at the moment.  Those St. Louis Cardinals have an 8 game lead over the Buccos! It looks like the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs are going to compete down to the wire in the NL Central for either of the two NL Wild Card spots.  The Cardinals never lose.

    Tonight’s starters are Williams Perez (4-0, 2.78 ERA) for the Braves and Francisco Liriano (4-6, 3.26 ERA) for the Pirates.  Perez has been a pleasant surprise as a member of the Atlanta Braves rotation.  In his last three appearances for the Braves, Perez is 2-0 with 1 save and a 2.77 ERA.  He’s extremely effective when he doesn’t walk guys.  I love his bulldog mentality on the mound and the bite on his breaking ball fools hitters constantly.

    Tomorrow afternoon, the Atlanta Braves send Julio Teheran (5-3, 4.67 ERA) to the mound to take on former Braves prospect Charlie Morton (5-1, 3.97 ERA).  Julio is coming of by far and away his best start of the season.  He went 7 innings of shutout ball, allowing just one hit and two walks against the New York Mets Sunday evening.

    What it really boils down to with Teheran is his mechanics, particularly his arm slot.  When he deviates his release point, his low-90’s fastball gets too much of the plate and hitters have a field day against him.  Pittsburgh has a deep and tough lineup for Julio to navigate, but if he pitches like he did against the Mets, I like the Atlanta Braves’ chances to win tomorrow.

    In the series finale Sunday afternoon, Alex Wood (4-5, 3.44 ERA) will compete against another former Braves pitching prospect Jeff Locke (4-3, 4.73 ERA).  That Nate McLouth trade gave the Pirates both Morton and Locke. We gave the Pirates two-fifths of the rotation for a guy that couldn’t hit .200 in Atlanta. Can we get a Mulligan on that deal, please?

    Wood is simply pitching to way too much contact this year for the Braves.  Hitters are batting .293 against the former UGA southpaw this season.  Up to this point, Woody is on pace to surrender more hits than strikeouts for the Atlanta Braves this season ( 98 hits to 62 strikeouts).  That’s a scary thought for a second or third starter in our promising young rotation.

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    The good news is that Alex is giving the Braves innings in his starts.  Not including getting tossed at home against the Pirates in the fifth inning on June 7th, Alex Wood has pitched at least six innings in seven of his last eight starts.  I just realized I went 5, 6, 7, 8 there.  Let’s hope that Woody gives the Braves another strong outing Sunday afternoon.

    This could be a tough series for the Braves.  I’m not going to lie.  With Freddie Freeman on the DL, the Braves offense has little to no bite.  Though he just did receive a platelet-rich plasma injection (PRP), we all want Freddie back at first base and batting third as soon as possible.  Still have to wait a week for him to become eligible to rejoin the team.  Here’s to taking two of three from the Buccos in PNC this weekend!

    Next: Cameron Maybin's Impact on the Atlanta Braves

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