Series preview: Braves at Nationals
When (TV): 7:05 p.m. Friday (FSSO), 1:05 p.m. Saturday (Fox), 1:35 p.m. Sunday (FSSO)
Radio: 680, 93.7, 100.5
Probable starting pitchers:
Friday: Braves RH Julio Teheran (0-0, 9.00 ERA) vs. LH Ross Detwiler (0-0, 0.00)
Saturday: Braves RH Tim Hudson (1-0, 3.27) vs. RH Stephen Strasburg (1-1, 4.38)
Sunday: Braves LH Paul Maholm (2-0, 0.00) vs. LH Gio Gonzalez (1-0, 0.82)
About the Braves:
Batting: Justin Upton (1.365) and Evan Gattis (1.266) were the National League's top two in OPS among players with at least 25 plate appearances before Thursday. … Gattis is 9-for-23 with three homers and six RBIs in six games, including 4-for-8 with two homers and five RBIs in the past two games. … Jason Heyward is 2-for-28 (.071) overall and 0-for-9 vs. lefties. … At Nationals Park, Heyward has hit .293 with three homers in 26 games, and Dan Uggla has hit .275 with 10 homers and a .533 slugging percentage in 44 games.
Pitching: Teheran gave up eight hits, five runs and two homers in five innings of his season debut Saturday against Chicago, for no decision in a 6-5 Braves win. He's 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA in five starts in the majors and has never faced Washington. … Hudson is 14-5 with a 2.65 ERA in 26 starts against the Washington and 4-1 with a 3.17 ERA in eight at Nationals Park. … Maholm is 1-6 with a 5.52 ERA in 10 starts vs. Washington, 0-3 with a 5.55 ERA in four at Nationals Park.
Miscellaneous: The Braves have nine homers and a 1.33 ERA during their six-game winning streak that consists of sweeps of the Cubs and Marlins. … Batting with two strikes, Justin Upton is 8-for-26 with five homers, while B.J. Upton, Heyward and Uggla are a combined 0-for-43 with 30 strikeouts. … Against Detwiler, Reed Johnson is 6-for-12 with a homer, Andrelton Simmons is 2-for-6 with a homer, Heyward is 5-for-14, Justin Upton is 2-for-11 and Uggla is 0-for-10. … Gattis led led major league rookies in homers (3) and NL rookies in average (.391) before Thursday.
About the Nationals:
Batting: Bryce Harper was hitting .394 with four homers and a 1.182 OPS in eight games, including 10-for-20 with three homers in five home games before Thursday night's series finale vs. the White Sox. After going 8-for-16 with three homers in his first five games against the Braves, he's 9-for-50 with one homer in his past 14 against them. … Ex-Brave Adam LaRoche is 34-for-182 (.187) with two homers, 30 walks and 49 strikeouts against Atlanta.
Pitching: It's the second start of the season for Detwiler, charged with six hits and one unearned run in six innings of a win a Cincinnati on Saturday. He went 1-1 with a 3.48 ERA in five starts against the Braves last season, with 31 hits and only one homer in 29 1/3 innings. He's 2-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 11 games (eight starts) against Atlanta. … Strasburg is 3-3 with a 4.17 ERA in seven career starts vs. the Braves, and Gonzalez is 2-2 with a 4.57 ERA in four starts against them.
Miscellaneous: The Nationals were 3-2 with a 6.60 ERA in their last five games before Thursday night's series finale against the White Sox. The two losses and much of the scoring damage came in a three-game series in Cincinnati's bandbox ballpark. At home the Nationals were 5-0 with a 2.00 ERA before Thursday, and seven of 10 earned runs allowed came in one game. … Washington had a stretch of 12 wins in 16 games against the Braves before Atlanta won the last four in 2012.
