This weekend, the Atlanta Braves (64-57) are set to wrap up their West Coast road trip with a three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels (52-69) in Angel Stadium.
In a set spanning Friday to Monday, they will get to greet their beloved third base coach from a year ago, Ron Washington, who coached with the Braves from 2017-23 before taking the manager role with the Angels this offseason. The Braves have maintained a good relationship with Washington despite being across the country, striking two deals with their American League ally early this season to acquire reliever Jimmy Herget and deal the Halos infielder Luis Guillorme.
This is the one series this season the Braves and Angels won't be allies, though. Coming off three of four victories over the San Francisco Giants, Atlanta hopes to keep things rolling in Anaheim. Oppositely, the Angels are looking to crawl out of a hole after getting swept at home this week by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Before returning home for a date with the Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves will need to trim the division deficit down from seven games to carry positive momentum into one of two crucial series' remaining with the division leaders.
Key to Victory
The Braves will need to find some consistency on offense. They lead the MLB with 50 homers since the All-Star break, but it all seems to come by the bunch.
The Braves hit all six of their homers in the middle two games against the Giants, leading to 17 combined runs. In the two bread games, the team didn't hit a homer and scored one combined run in 19 innings (Blake Snell and Logan Webb were dominant on the mound in those games for San Francisco, but the point stands).
Against an Angels pitching staff that ranks 27th with a 4.54 team ERA and 22nd with 1.21 homers allowed per nine innings, the Braves will have to find a way to slug regardless of if Jorge Soler ( day-to-day; hamstring tightness ) is in the lineup. They scored 13 runs on Wednesday, sparked by Michael Harris's grand slam in his first at bat off the injured list, but were shutout with only four hits on Thursday.
If they can even that production out over three games, the Braves should have a good shot to win each game this weekend. They likely won't need 10-run games to pull out wins, as there's a lot to like about the Braves' pitching going into this series.
Pitching Matchups
Friday: RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (4-5, 3.95) vs. RHP José Soriano (6-7, 3.36)
Saturday: LHP Chris Sale (13-3, 2.61) vs. RHP Griffin Canning (4-10, 5.11)
Sunday: RHP Charlie Morton (6-7, 4.40) vs. RHP Jack Kochanowicz (1-2, 7.98)
The Braves got three quality starts in four contests versus the Giants. Sale delivered a 7.0-inning, 12 strikeout masterpiece , and Morton joined the 2,000 K club in 6.0 innings of two-runs ball with eight punchouts. Not to mention, Schwellenbach's past three outings have been quality starts with 28 Ks to two walks among them.
Expect dominant pitching from the Braves in this series against an offense that ranks in the bottom seven in every major offensive category.
Broadcast info for the series between the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels:
First pitch for the first two games of the series are set for 9:38 p.m. EST., while game three is at 4:07 p.m. on Sunday.
The Braves broadcast is on Bally Sports Southeast, while the Angels are on Bally Sports West; game two is also featured on MLB Network. Braves fans can also listen to the games by tuning in to the Atlanta Braves Radio Network on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country.
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