Chris Sale and the Braves want to gain momentum against the Diamondbacks

The Atlanta Braves return to face the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight after a dramatic eleven-inning victory yesterday. The Braves have elected to start Bryce Elder and start at left field with Eddie Rosario.

The change ultimately paid off. Elder struggled at the end of his start, but the first five innings looked great. Rosario ended up being one of the tying runs when he hit a two-strike single, followed by a home run by Sean Murphy.

The Braves have now scored five runs in four straight games for the first time since June 16. It is also just the fourth time this season that they have put together such a streak. That streak will be put to the test when they face the Diamondbacks’ top hitter, Zac Gallen. Gallen is having another excellent season with a 3.06 FIP, 3.11, 1.108 WHIP and a 3.74 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Interestingly, his strikeouts per nine innings have been exactly 9.4 for three straight seasons.

Gallen was out of action for most of June, only returning on the 29th. Since then, he got off to a great start against Oakland, but struggled in his last start (July 4), allowing three runs and three walks with just four strikeouts in 4.0 innings against the Dodgers.

The good news for the Braves is that Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley have been successful against Gallen. In eleven ABs against him, Albies has a .364 average, 1.053 OPS and one HR. Austin Riley has a .400 average, 1.455 OPS and one HR in ten ABs. Duvall has only three ABs but a .333 average against Gallen. Arcia and Olson have not been successful against Gallen in terms of average, but have both hit a home run against him.

If the Braves are unable to beat Gallen, they should at least try to optimize the counts to get him out as early as possible. As we saw last night, that is not a strong suit for the Diamondbacks. As a unit, the bullpen has a 4.43 ERA, which ranks 24th in the MLB. If we look at xFIP, they are alone in 25th place.

The Braves will bring 2024 All-Star Chris Sale to the mound. Sale has been fantastic lately, ranking sixth among all MLB pitchers according to Statcast’s Weighted Pitching Performance.

He also has the sixth most strikeouts in the MLB. Chris Sale has the best FIP, WHIP and SO/W ratio among qualified SPs in the National League.

Sale got off to a terrible start on June 1 in Oakland, allowing eight ERs in 4.0 innings. Since then, he’s more than made up for that. In his last five starts, he’s averaged just over 6.1 innings pitched and posted a 1.97 ERA, with 45 strikeouts and just nine walks. Hitters have had a terrible slash line of .165/.235/.294 against him during that span.

Hopefully Sale can continue his streak of excellence against a lineup that is full of players who have had success against him. Carroll, Grichuk, Gurriel Jr. and Newman all have an OPS over .726, with each of them facing him at least four times. Grichuk is the only player to really keep an eye on. In twenty at-bats against Sale, he has two home runs, a .300 average and an OPS of .983.

First pitch is at 9:40 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports South.

Game Information

Date/time of the game: Tuesday, July 9, 9:40 p.m. ET

Location: Chase Field, Phoenix, Arizona.

TV: Bally Sports South

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93,7 FM The Fan