<img alt="MLB: Game One-Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3Uf1HDwleE1B8AB2V47JPiuiDis=/0x0:5774x3849/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73440471/usa_today_23627711.0.jpg">
Reynaldo López has dominated this season | Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants offense has been hot, Reynaldo López does not give up many runs. This should be a fun matchup. The Atlanta Braves are set take on the San Francisco Giants in the first game of a three game set. It is no secret that the Braves have struggled to score runs this season, especially in contrast to the historic offense they put up last season.
Over the past four games, the Braves have only score ten runs. Five of those runs were scored in a single inning. The Giants have the sixth worst ERA in MLB so far this season, and fourth worst in the month of June.
This could be a good time for the Braves’ offense to get a spark going. The first game they will be facing off against twenty-two year old rookie Hayden Birdsong, who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. He only has 4.2 innings pitched so far in his young career, so there is not much data to go off of in terms of what the Braves can expect. Obviously, none of the players on the Braves’ roster have faced Birdsong yet. But, he is the fourth ranked prospect in the Giants’ organization according to MLB.com.
In his debut appearance, which was against the struggling Cubs, he went 4.2 innings in which he had three walks, six hits, one HR, three ERs, and five strikeouts. It makes sense as to why the Giants brought him up since they have been struggling to prevent runs.
The Braves will be bringing in Reynaldo López, who has the best ERA in MLB among pitchers with at least 70.0 innings pitched. With 79.1 innings pitched, he just misses the threshold of innings to be on the official leaderboards.
No one can take away the success of López, but he has been a bit fortunate if we look at his underlying metrics. His expected ERA (xERA) is much higher than his actual ERA. His xERA is 3.98, which ranks in the bottom 47.0 percent of MLB pitchers. He has given up a lot of hard contact, with a hard hit percentage of 41.3 percent, which ranks in the bottom 31.0 percent, and he does not induce many groundballs at 37.0 percent.
That being said, these numbers are not on-field results. It is just a sign that some regression to the mean is likely to happen. His on-field results have been exceptional, and they could certainly continue tonight.
The Giants are right in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored. They have scored the fourteenth most runs, and their team wRC+ of 105 is ranked eleventh. This offense has been led by arguably one of the most underrated cores in MLB of LaMonte Wade Jr., and Heliot Ramos. Wade Jr. has a slash line of .326/.460/.420 which equates to a wRC+ of 161, and Ramos has a slash line of .294/.368/.508 which equates to a wRC+ of 149.
In their last game, the Giants put up nine ERs against James Paxton of the Dodgers who had a 3.39 ERA at the time. In the past week, the Giants are tied for sixth in MLB in runs scored. Needless to say, the Giants offense is hot, and the Braves need López to continue his elite run prevention.
Former Braves hero, Jorge Soler, has had success against López. In nineteen at-bats against López, Soler has three HRs, .632 average, and 1.930 OPS. Matt Chapman is the only other player on the Giants that has more than three at-bats against López, and his success has been the opposite of Soler’s. In fifteen at-bats, Chapman has an OPS of .516 against López.
This is going to be a fun matchup this evening where a struggling Braves offense goes against a young inexperienced pitcher with high upside, while a hot Giants offense is going up against the SP who has been the best at preventing runs in MLB.
First pitch is at 7:20 ET
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, July 2, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Ga.
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
<img alt="MLB: Game One-Atlanta Braves at St. Louis Cardinals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3Uf1HDwleE1B8AB2V47JPiuiDis=/0x0:5774x3849/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73440471/usa_today_23627711.0.jpg">
Reynaldo López has dominated this season | Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants offense has been hot, Reynaldo López does not give up many runs. This should be a fun matchup. The Atlanta Braves are set take on the San Francisco Giants in the first game of a three game set. It is no secret that the Braves have struggled to score runs this season, especially in contrast to the historic offense they put up last season.
Over the past four games, the Braves have only score ten runs. Five of those runs were scored in a single inning. The Giants have the sixth worst ERA in MLB so far this season, and fourth worst in the month of June.
This could be a good time for the Braves’ offense to get a spark going. The first game they will be facing off against twenty-two year old rookie Hayden Birdsong, who was drafted in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. He only has 4.2 innings pitched so far in his young career, so there is not much data to go off of in terms of what the Braves can expect. Obviously, none of the players on the Braves’ roster have faced Birdsong yet. But, he is the fourth ranked prospect in the Giants’ organization according to MLB.com.
In his debut appearance, which was against the struggling Cubs, he went 4.2 innings in which he had three walks, six hits, one HR, three ERs, and five strikeouts. It makes sense as to why the Giants brought him up since they have been struggling to prevent runs.
The Braves will be bringing in Reynaldo López, who has the best ERA in MLB among pitchers with at least 70.0 innings pitched. With 79.1 innings pitched, he just misses the threshold of innings to be on the official leaderboards.
No one can take away the success of López, but he has been a bit fortunate if we look at his underlying metrics. His expected ERA (xERA) is much higher than his actual ERA. His xERA is 3.98, which ranks in the bottom 47.0 percent of MLB pitchers. He has given up a lot of hard contact, with a hard hit percentage of 41.3 percent, which ranks in the bottom 31.0 percent, and he does not induce many groundballs at 37.0 percent.
That being said, these numbers are not on-field results. It is just a sign that some regression to the mean is likely to happen. His on-field results have been exceptional, and they could certainly continue tonight.
The Giants are right in the middle of the pack in terms of runs scored. They have scored the fourteenth most runs, and their team wRC+ of 105 is ranked eleventh. This offense has been led by arguably one of the most underrated cores in MLB of LaMonte Wade Jr., and Heliot Ramos. Wade Jr. has a slash line of .326/.460/.420 which equates to a wRC+ of 161, and Ramos has a slash line of .294/.368/.508 which equates to a wRC+ of 149.
In their last game, the Giants put up nine ERs against James Paxton of the Dodgers who had a 3.39 ERA at the time. In the past week, the Giants are tied for sixth in MLB in runs scored. Needless to say, the Giants offense is hot, and the Braves need López to continue his elite run prevention.
Former Braves hero, Jorge Soler, has had success against López. In nineteen at-bats against López, Soler has three HRs, .632 average, and 1.930 OPS. Matt Chapman is the only other player on the Giants that has more than three at-bats against López, and his success has been the opposite of Soler’s. In fifteen at-bats, Chapman has an OPS of .516 against López.
This is going to be a fun matchup this evening where a struggling Braves offense goes against a young inexperienced pitcher with high upside, while a hot Giants offense is going up against the SP who has been the best at preventing runs in MLB.
First pitch is at 7:20 ET
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Tuesday, July 2, 7:20 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Ga.
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
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