The Atlanta Braves and the Texas Rangers meet Wednesday in MLB action from Globe Life Field. This will be the finale in a three-game series. The Braves took a blowout win on Monday in the opener, then in game two the Rangers evened it up with a three-run victory. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves scored four runs in the second inning during Monday’s opener and cruised to a 12-0 shutout victory. On Tuesday Atlanta scored three in the eighth but couldn’t dig out of the hole in a 7-4 loss. Starter Jared Shuster finished with 5.0 innings, three earned, three hits and two walks.
Spencer Strider will make the start for the Braves on Wednesday. Over his eight starts so far Strider is 4-1 with a 2.51 ERA and 79 Ks in 46.2 innings. Strider is 16-6 with a 2.64 ERA in 41 games (28 starts) over his career.
Texas Rangers
Over on the Texas side, they posted 10 team hits in the Monday opener of this series but couldn’t find the scoreboard. On Tuesday the Rangers scored three runs in the fourth inning on the way to 10 hits. Dane Dunning put up 6.0 innings in the start with one earned, six hits, no walks and four Ks.
Wednesday’s starter will be Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi. Across eight starts this year Eovaldi is 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA and 56 Ks in 53.1 innings. Over his career Eovaldi is 72-70 with a 4.10 ERA in 248 games (229 starts).
The Braves are 14-5 in their last 19 road games and 5-2 in their last seven Wednesday games. Atlanta is 105-49 in the last 154 games on grass.
Meanwhile, the Rangers are 4-0 in their last four in game three of a series and 9-4 in their last 13 interleague home games. Texas is 16-35 in their last 51 Wednesday games.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll stay with the Braves in this one. Strider has been doing pretty well over his last three starts, but he’s just 1-1 in that time so he’ll need some run support. Over 16.2 combined innings Strider has seven earned on 14 hits and four walks total. On Tuesday Atlanta had a sketchy pitching performance all around and the offense took a while to get moving. The Braves will likely need to get Strider some early support; if they can score a few early I think Atlanta will be okay for the series win.
