Braves vs Rays Preview: Braves looking to build momentum and win a series

The Braves finally have some momentum after two straight wins as a full team, and picking up a series win against a strong Tampa Bay team would further help get the season back on track. The team has been in a rut for a while now, which came to a head with a 5 game losing streak. The team has potentially started to turn things around, scoring 5 points in consecutive games for the first time in almost two months (as pointed out by our own Stephen), with Austin Riley in particular looking refreshed at home on Friday . Both wins also featured more stellar pitching from Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale.

Atlanta hopes its offense can continue to thrive, even though it lost Michael Harris II to a hamstring injury in Friday’s game, forcing him to the IL. Ramon Laureano will replace him on the roster and could be in today’s lineup.

Regardless, Charlie Morton will get the start and can hopefully give the Braves at least one solid outing. The results have been shaky over his last 3 starts, but he’s been pretty steady this season overall, with a . Cutting down on walks will be key, because when he’s out of walks, it’s often hit batters that hurt him.

The Rays will start Ryan Pepiot, who they acquired in the Tyler Glasnow trade. Pepiot has been pretty good for Tampa this year, to the tune of a 3.43 xFIP. He has some prospect pedigree and has pitched decently in all of his 150 or so major league innings. He combines good extension with a mid-90s four-seam fastball on which he also gets impressive “rise.” It’s a very effective fastball for him and he throws it almost 55% of the time. The rest of his pitches are split about evenly between his slider, which is not a very good slider that lacks depth, and a pretty good changeup. The Braves will likely have the most success on his slider, which he has also snagged on several occasions this year, but nothing about Pepiot is untouchable. Hopefully they can continue to fuel their offense which seems to have found a spark again.

Game information

Game date/time: Saturday, June 15, 4:10 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: Bally Sports South East

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM/93.7 FM Le Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM