Atlanta Braves look to even the series against Rays

Following a tricky Friday that noticed them start it with a walk-off straight onto a aircraft Atlanta and finish it with a loss in Tampa, the Atlanta Braves are actually making an attempt to bounce again within the center recreation of this three-game collection with the Rays.

AJ Smith-Shawver will likely be getting the ball to start out tonight’s recreation and it’s clear that the Braves are absolutely hoping that this’ll be the night time the place he places collectively one thing resembling a whole begin. He’s made a few begins to this point this yr and in each of them, he’s had loads of visitors to cope with on the basepaths as he gave up six hits in his season debut after which seven in his most up-to-date look, with three walks in every of these outings. Because of this, he nonetheless has but to make it by way of 5 innings to this point.

With that being mentioned, one factor that Smith-Shawver has going for him is that he has been inducing numerous whiffs to this point. Hopefully he’ll be capable to flip these whiffs into extra strikeouts, as he went from 4 in his season debut to 6 in his most up-to-date outing. This is probably not essentially the most splendid state of affairs to attempt to go for strikeouts, because the Rays are coming into this recreation with solely a 19.9 p.c strikeout charge. With that being mentioned, that’s definitely not going to cease AJSS from making an attempt and if he can proceed to ramp up his strikeout numbers then this may very well be the second the place he lastly will get a top quality begin beneath his belt.

In the meantime, Drew Rasmussen is getting the ball for the Rays and he’s gotten off to a really stable begin to the season for the Rays to this point. He’s thrown 10 innings over two begins and gone 5 innings in every of these begins with 4 strikeouts and only one stroll to this point. It took every part the Rangers had simply to scratch a run previous him throughout his final outing and Texas needed to win it in walk-off style as soon as Rasmussen was gone from the sport.

Rasmussen has a five-pitch arsenal however he’ll be leaning on his cutter whereas sometimes going to a four-seamer and sinker whereas not often breaking out the sweeper and curveball. He’s finished a great job of avoiding getting barreled up to this point and as I discussed within the earlier article, he’s largely averted giving out free passes and that’s a part of the rationale why he’s gotten off to such a stable begin for the Rays to this point. He’s additionally averted giving up a homer as effectively. Rasmussen seems prone to ship a tricky problem to the Braves tonight however what else is new so far as this season goes for Atlanta?

Generally I like to have a look at the FanGraphs reside scoreboard earlier than the video games begin since they normally give an analytical prediction on how the sport goes. Often, the Braves have had the upper odds of victory — at the moment is just not a type of days, as FanGraphs is giving the Rays a 57 p.c shot to win this one. If we’re being utterly sincere, the pitching matchup definitely tilts in favor of the Rays and the Braves are nonetheless making an attempt to determine a strategy to get into a great run of consistency right here in 2025.

With that being mentioned, that is nonetheless baseball — you continue to must go on the market on the diamond and make it occur. Hopefully the Braves will be capable to determine it out at the moment and play a whole recreation, themselves. If that occurs, this group nonetheless has the expertise to play with anyone on any given day. Hopefully at the moment’s a type of days!