The Atlanta Braves are SO back.
After a disastrous 1-5 West Coast road trip, Atlanta swept the Boston Red Sox thanks to phenomenal pitching performances from Reynaldo López and Chris Sale and offensive support from designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, who now leads all of baseball in both home runs (12) and RBIs (38) after hitting two longballs on Wednesday.
The Braves are looking to keep the winning streak going on the road in tonight’s series opener as they send Charlie Morton to the mound to face off with the division rival New York Mets and tonight’s starter Jose Quintana.
Morton’s 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA in his six starts, having struck out 33 and walked 13 in his 36 innings pitched on the season. He’s looking for revenge from his last outing against New York, coming on April 8th of this year, when he took a no-decision after allowing four runs (all earned) in 5.2 innings. Watch for DH J.D. Martinez in this one – he’s batting .371 off of Morton in 35 career at-bats with a homer.
Quintana’s familiar with Atlanta, having already faced the Braves once this season. On April 11th, he went 5.1 innings against Atlanta, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out four in a Mets blowout victory. There’s several Braves hitters who must be salivating at the thought of this matchup: Ozzie Albies has a .538 average and 1.725 OPS with two homers off of Quintana (in thirteen at-bats), while Adam Duvall has a .400 average and 1.625 OPS in ten at-bats and Marcell Ozuna has a .458 average and 1.186 OPS in twenty-four a
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