<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ng8QXYu7EBwjW8TQDgmzF4GjxBU=/0x0:3500x2333/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73579438/2169658949.0.jpg">
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
The Braves may have already lost the season series, but a sweep here would be fantastic Following a dominant 12-0 win over the Washington Nationals that served as a complete reversal of how they ended their homestand, the Atlanta Braves are now looking to get back on the plane with a crucial mini-sweep of their divisional foes in D.C.
The story of last night’s game was clearly the offense teeing off on MacKenzie Gore and the rest of Washington’s pitching staff. In a season series that has been rife with frustration for Atlanta, it sure was nice to finally see this team absolutely dominate the Nationals for a bit. Still, the Braves will certainly have to be on their toes for tonight’s game. The offense looked incredible last night but at the same time, we all know how this team’s fortunes can seemingly change at the drop of a hat.
That’s especially true given that they will have to deal with Jake Irvin tonight. When you look at Irvin’s stats for this season, you aren’t going to see someone who has been dominant or elite or anything like that. Jake Irvin has been a perfectly fine starting pitcher for the Nationals this season and Washington will surely be hoping that he can continue to improve as they move on into another year of their rebuild.
With that being said, he has been extremely tough for the Braves to deal with here in 2024. It took Atlanta three starts before they could finally score a run on this guy and even when they did, it was only two runs. Now, the good news is that the Braves did eventually win that game in the last time where they saw Jake Irvin but again, that was only after he had two separate starts where he pitched six shutout innings against Atlanta. As you can easily imagine, those two starts were two of his best starts that he had all season and he had even run his streak of scoreless innings against the Braves up to 16 this season before Orlando Arcia finally broke the hex with a home run.
Ever since the Braves finally proved that he wasn’t a robot specifically programmed to stop Atlanta, Irvin went on to have two really poor starts against Cubs and Pirates, respectively. He’s coming into this game having given up 15 hits and 13 runs over his past two starts. The obvious hope here is that Atlanta can stay hot at the plate and compound the misery that Irvin has been experiencing on the mound in very recent memory. With this now being the fourth time that the Braves have seen Jake Irvin this season, they should have him figured out and be able to do even more against him — especially considering that their Postseason chances are hinging on each and every game at this point in the season.
Meanwhile, if Jake Irvin is currently heading in one direction then Max Fried is heading in the opposite direction. Fried will be coming into this game having thrown seven innings against Toronto with just one unearned run allowed. This was after he went seven innings while giving up three runs against the Phillies and before that he went five innings where he only gave up one earned run against the Twins in that weird rain/tornado-affected game. Fried has seen the Nationals once this season and he carved them up in that one — he went eight innings, struck out six, only walked one batter and shut them out for the entirety of his stay on the mound that night. It was (for lack of a better term) Maximum Fried and the Braves will surely be hoping that he can pull out a repeat performance and pick up where the bullpen left off last night.
You don’t need me to tell you that the Braves absolutely need to take care of business in this one. The Blue Jays did the Braves a solid last night with their win over the Mets and hopefully those events will repeat tonight and the Braves will snatch back complete possession of the third and final NL Wild Card spot. On paper, this is a matchup that absolutely favors the Braves but as we all know, this team has been pretty unpredictable in recent times. They could blow up and walk out of Washington with a dominant mini-sweep or they could fall victim to Jake Irvin’s spells and end up looking to Canada for help once again. Hopefully it’s the former and certainly not the latter for Atlanta, tonight.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, September 11, 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
TV: Bally Sports South, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Philadelphia Phillies" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ng8QXYu7EBwjW8TQDgmzF4GjxBU=/0x0:3500x2333/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73579438/2169658949.0.jpg">
Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
The Braves may have already lost the season series, but a sweep here would be fantastic Following a dominant 12-0 win over the Washington Nationals that served as a complete reversal of how they ended their homestand, the Atlanta Braves are now looking to get back on the plane with a crucial mini-sweep of their divisional foes in D.C.
The story of last night’s game was clearly the offense teeing off on MacKenzie Gore and the rest of Washington’s pitching staff. In a season series that has been rife with frustration for Atlanta, it sure was nice to finally see this team absolutely dominate the Nationals for a bit. Still, the Braves will certainly have to be on their toes for tonight’s game. The offense looked incredible last night but at the same time, we all know how this team’s fortunes can seemingly change at the drop of a hat.
That’s especially true given that they will have to deal with Jake Irvin tonight. When you look at Irvin’s stats for this season, you aren’t going to see someone who has been dominant or elite or anything like that. Jake Irvin has been a perfectly fine starting pitcher for the Nationals this season and Washington will surely be hoping that he can continue to improve as they move on into another year of their rebuild.
With that being said, he has been extremely tough for the Braves to deal with here in 2024. It took Atlanta three starts before they could finally score a run on this guy and even when they did, it was only two runs. Now, the good news is that the Braves did eventually win that game in the last time where they saw Jake Irvin but again, that was only after he had two separate starts where he pitched six shutout innings against Atlanta. As you can easily imagine, those two starts were two of his best starts that he had all season and he had even run his streak of scoreless innings against the Braves up to 16 this season before Orlando Arcia finally broke the hex with a home run.
Ever since the Braves finally proved that he wasn’t a robot specifically programmed to stop Atlanta, Irvin went on to have two really poor starts against Cubs and Pirates, respectively. He’s coming into this game having given up 15 hits and 13 runs over his past two starts. The obvious hope here is that Atlanta can stay hot at the plate and compound the misery that Irvin has been experiencing on the mound in very recent memory. With this now being the fourth time that the Braves have seen Jake Irvin this season, they should have him figured out and be able to do even more against him — especially considering that their Postseason chances are hinging on each and every game at this point in the season.
Meanwhile, if Jake Irvin is currently heading in one direction then Max Fried is heading in the opposite direction. Fried will be coming into this game having thrown seven innings against Toronto with just one unearned run allowed. This was after he went seven innings while giving up three runs against the Phillies and before that he went five innings where he only gave up one earned run against the Twins in that weird rain/tornado-affected game. Fried has seen the Nationals once this season and he carved them up in that one — he went eight innings, struck out six, only walked one batter and shut them out for the entirety of his stay on the mound that night. It was (for lack of a better term) Maximum Fried and the Braves will surely be hoping that he can pull out a repeat performance and pick up where the bullpen left off last night.
You don’t need me to tell you that the Braves absolutely need to take care of business in this one. The Blue Jays did the Braves a solid last night with their win over the Mets and hopefully those events will repeat tonight and the Braves will snatch back complete possession of the third and final NL Wild Card spot. On paper, this is a matchup that absolutely favors the Braves but as we all know, this team has been pretty unpredictable in recent times. They could blow up and walk out of Washington with a dominant mini-sweep or they could fall victim to Jake Irvin’s spells and end up looking to Canada for help once again. Hopefully it’s the former and certainly not the latter for Atlanta, tonight.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, September 11, 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
TV: Bally Sports South, MLB Network (out-of-market only)
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
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