The Atlanta Braves will continue their quest to avoid the wild-card round in October when they host the Colorado Rockies in the second game of their three-game series on Saturday night.
The National League-East leaders defeated the Rockies 6-4 on Friday and enter the Saturday contest a game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the chase for the No. 2 seed in the league. The top two seeds earn byes straight into the NL Division Series.
Atlanta helped its cause by sweeping the Dodgers in a trio of one-run games ahead of the series against the Rockies and extended its winning streak to five games with Friday’s triumph.
The Braves can make it two in a row against the Rockies when they send left-hander Martin Perez (8-8, 3.12 ERA) to the mound. Colorado will counter with right-hander Ryan Feltner (5-8, 6.08)
Perez is slated to make his ninth career start against Colorado and is 2-3 with a 3.60 ERA in his eight previous outings. He is following two strong starts by Chris Sale and Grant Holmes in wins over the Dodgers and Rockies, respectively.
It also comes after the team announced two of its starters, Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep, are done for the season and will undergo elbow surgery.
The Braves have been winning despite Ronald Acuna Jr.’s struggles in August. A career .284 hitter, he is batting .235 on the season and .227 in August. Manager Walt Weiss gave him Thursday off.
Acuna responded with three hits and a walk, and he also made a sliding catch in right field.
“I’ve talked about this, picking spots for guys when I think I feel like maybe they can use some help slowing things down,” Weiss said Thursday. “We talk about the fact that I think with everyday players, the best way to slow the game down, or one of the best ways, is to have them watch it in the dugout.”
Colorado’s Hunter Goodman returned Tuesday from a left shoulder strain that cost him 10 games. He made an impact right away, homering in each of his first two games back against the host Nationals to give him a career-high 36 homers. He added three hits Friday night.
The two-time All-Star catcher continues to impress manager Warren Schaeffer.
“He’s awesome,” Schaeffer said. “He’s our All-Star. He’s got 30-plus homers. It’s always great to get a guy like that back in the lineup. He feels good, which is even better.”
Even with Goodman’s strong season, the Rockies are on pace to lose 100 games again, although they already surpassed last season’s 43 wins with more than a month remaining in the season. Still, at 52-83, Colorado has the worst record in the NL.
One of the disappointments is Feltner’s recent outings. He had a serviceable June, posting a 4.00 ERA in five starts, but followed that with a 9.68 ERA in July and a 7.00 ERA in four August starts. He is 3-6 in the nine starts.
His past two starts have been especially tough. He allowed seven runs in a 7-6 loss to the Dodgers on Aug. 18, then gave up seven runs (five earned) to the Nationals on Monday.
He is facing Atlanta for the fifth time in his career, and is 0-4 with an 11.25 ERA in his previous four starts. He has given up six home runs in 16 innings.
–Field Level Media
