<img alt="MLB: Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ap2YKcYgQUeJVIhLFqEbauu-ZJw=/0x0:2923x1949/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73549902/usa_today_24062584.0.jpg">
Chris Sale looks to help Braves sweep the Twins | Jordan Godfree-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves have won five of six games and look to sweep the Twins. The Atlanta Braves are 8-2 in their last ten games as they go for a sweep of the Minnesota Twins tonight being six games behind the Phillies in the division, but three games ahead of the Mets for the final wild card spot.
Chris Sale is slotted to take the mound for the Braves as the current front runner for the Cy Young Award. He currently has the best ERA among qualified starter in the NL, the most wins, the best adjusted ERA, the best FIP, and the most strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
Since the start of July he has been even better in terms of preventing runs than he overall season ERA shows. Since the start of July he has a .233 ERA, 1.65 FIP and hitters slashing .239/.297/.323 all while he has been arguably unlucky with hitters having a .367 BABIP against him.
Sale has been in MLB since 2010, so there is no shock that he has faced many of the hitters on the Twins before. However, other than Carlos Santana, he has not faced any player on the roster for more than seven at-bats.
Carlos Santana is an interesting matchup. He has forty-five at-bats against Sale. He has a career .311 average, .811 OPS, and two HRs against him. Santana also has three hits already this series against the Braves.
The other player to keep an eye on is Manuel Margot, who has a .429 average and .858 OPS against Sale in seven at-bats. The two hitters that have faced Sale the most have had decent success against him.
For the Twins, David Festa will take the mound. He has only pitched 36.1 innings at the MLB level. Only the former Tiger Gio Urshela has faced him before. Urshela had a single in two at-bats against Festa.
Festa has struggled to a 5.20 ERA in his small sample size, but his expected ERA (xERA) is much lower at 4.20 and he does strikeout hitters at a high clip with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Seven of his twenty-one earned runs came in the same game that Urshela faced him back in early July. Since that start, Festa has been much better with a 3.08 ERA over 25.1 innings in five starts and one relief appearance. Hitters have slashed .212/.291/.384 with hitters having a close to league average .300 BABIP against him in that span.
In other words, don’t be fooled by the high ERA. Festa has pitched well since he has settled in as a member of the Twins’ rotation.
The Braves have done much better at scoring runs in this series. Having scored an average of 4.25 runs per game on the season before this series, the Braves scored eighteen in just two games against the Twins. With Sale on the mound, odds are the Braves could score their season average and have a chance to win.
The Braves have a shot of winning six out of seven games tonight as their Cy Young front runner takes on an offense that has score the fifth most runs in the AL.
First pitch is at 7:40 ET.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, August 28, 7:40 p.m. ET
Location: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN.
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
<img alt="MLB: Washington Nationals at Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Ap2YKcYgQUeJVIhLFqEbauu-ZJw=/0x0:2923x1949/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73549902/usa_today_24062584.0.jpg">
Chris Sale looks to help Braves sweep the Twins | Jordan Godfree-USA TODAY Sports
The Braves have won five of six games and look to sweep the Twins. The Atlanta Braves are 8-2 in their last ten games as they go for a sweep of the Minnesota Twins tonight being six games behind the Phillies in the division, but three games ahead of the Mets for the final wild card spot.
Chris Sale is slotted to take the mound for the Braves as the current front runner for the Cy Young Award. He currently has the best ERA among qualified starter in the NL, the most wins, the best adjusted ERA, the best FIP, and the most strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
Since the start of July he has been even better in terms of preventing runs than he overall season ERA shows. Since the start of July he has a .233 ERA, 1.65 FIP and hitters slashing .239/.297/.323 all while he has been arguably unlucky with hitters having a .367 BABIP against him.
Sale has been in MLB since 2010, so there is no shock that he has faced many of the hitters on the Twins before. However, other than Carlos Santana, he has not faced any player on the roster for more than seven at-bats.
Carlos Santana is an interesting matchup. He has forty-five at-bats against Sale. He has a career .311 average, .811 OPS, and two HRs against him. Santana also has three hits already this series against the Braves.
The other player to keep an eye on is Manuel Margot, who has a .429 average and .858 OPS against Sale in seven at-bats. The two hitters that have faced Sale the most have had decent success against him.
For the Twins, David Festa will take the mound. He has only pitched 36.1 innings at the MLB level. Only the former Tiger Gio Urshela has faced him before. Urshela had a single in two at-bats against Festa.
Festa has struggled to a 5.20 ERA in his small sample size, but his expected ERA (xERA) is much lower at 4.20 and he does strikeout hitters at a high clip with 10.9 strikeouts per nine innings. Seven of his twenty-one earned runs came in the same game that Urshela faced him back in early July. Since that start, Festa has been much better with a 3.08 ERA over 25.1 innings in five starts and one relief appearance. Hitters have slashed .212/.291/.384 with hitters having a close to league average .300 BABIP against him in that span.
In other words, don’t be fooled by the high ERA. Festa has pitched well since he has settled in as a member of the Twins’ rotation.
The Braves have done much better at scoring runs in this series. Having scored an average of 4.25 runs per game on the season before this series, the Braves scored eighteen in just two games against the Twins. With Sale on the mound, odds are the Braves could score their season average and have a chance to win.
The Braves have a shot of winning six out of seven games tonight as their Cy Young front runner takes on an offense that has score the fifth most runs in the AL.
First pitch is at 7:40 ET.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, August 28, 7:40 p.m. ET
Location: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN.
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
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