Dodgers at Braves
The Atlanta Braves host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series starting Friday that's an opportunity to prove they can play with the two-time defending National League champions. The Braves lead the NL East by 5 1/2 games and hold the second-best record in the league but were overmatched in a four-game loss to the Dodgers in last season’s NL Division Series and outscored 23-7 in an ugly three-game sweep by the NL West leaders in Los Angeles in May.
The Dodgers (81-42) lead the West by 19 1/2 games and are tied with the Yankees for the best record in the majors, owning a big-league leading plus-208 run differential. Perhaps both teams were looking ahead to the weekend Thursday, as Los Angeles fell for just the third time in 15 games with a 13-7 setback at Miami, while the Braves rallied from a late deficit only to fall 10-8 to the Mets. The series features two of the top contenders for NL MVP honors as Los Angeles first baseman Cody Bellinger became the first player in the majors to hit 40 homers this season with a three-run blast Thursday, giving him 16 RBIs in his past 19 games and 93 on the season. Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. also homered Thursday and begins the series two steals shy of a 30/30 season; he has a shot at a 40/40 campaign considering he has 14 of his 35 homers and 15 of his 28 steals since the All-Star break.
TV: 7:20 p.m. ET, MLB Network, SportsNet Los Angeles, FS South (Atlanta)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Dodgers RH Kenta Maeda (8-8, 4.12 ERA) vs. Braves RH Mike Soroka (10-2, 2.32)
Maeda snapped a rough three-start streak with a stellar outing Saturday against Arizona, striking out six while allowing three hits with no walks in seven shutout innings to end an 11-start winless streak. The 31-year-old had yielded 14 runs on 16 hits in just 11 innings across his three previous appearances and surrendered nine homers while pitching to a 5.23 ERA in his past 12 games (11 starts) before Saturday. Maeda is 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in two career starts against Atlanta and pitched a scoreless inning against the Braves in last season’s NL Division Series.
Soroka is 16 1/3 innings shy of his heaviest workload as a professional (153 2/3 innings pitched at Double-A Mississippi in 2017) but has tossed seven innings in each of his previous three starts while allowing four runs on 12 hits in that span. The 22-year-old blanked Miami over seven innings on Saturday, giving up three hits with one walk and six strikeouts, and entered Thursday second in the NL in ERA and eighth in WHIP (1.08). Soroka, who has surrendered one earned run or fewer in 14 of his 21 starts this season, makes his first career appearance against the Dodgers.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Dodgers sat a franchise record for most homers in a three-game series with 14 against the Marlins, hitting four in Thursday’s loss.
2. Atlanta set a season high with six homers in Thursday’s loss, getting two apiece from 1B Freddie Freeman and 3B Josh Donaldson.
3. Los Angeles 2B Max Muncy extended his hitting streak to five games with a two-run homer Thursday, giving him 29 homers and 20 multi-RBI games in 2019.