Series preview: at Diamondbacks
When (TV): 9:40 p.m. Friday, 10:10 p.m. Saturday, 4:10 p.m. Sunday (FSSO)
Radio: 680, 93.7, 106.7
Probable starting pitchers:
Friday: Braves RH Julio Teheran (5-3, 1.83 ERA) vs. RH Brandon McCarthy (1-7, 5.20)
Saturday: Braves RH Ervin Santana (5-2, 4.10) vs. LH Wade Miley (3-6, 4.85)
Sunday: Braves RH Aaron Harang (4-4, 3.24) vs. RH Chase Anderson (4-0, 3.32)
About the Braves
Batting: Evan Gattis is 9-for-25 (.360) with four homers and nine RBIs in his past seven games. … Jason Heyward has hit .330 (29-for-88) with three homers, nine RBIs and a .404 OBP in his past 22 games. … Tommy La Stella is 9-for-22 (.409) with two walks and one strikeout since arriving from Triple-A. … Chris Johnson is 14-for-70 (.200) with one homer, no walks, 20 strikeouts and a .197 OBP in his past 18 games. … Freddie Freeman has hit .208 with no homers in 15 games.
Pitching: Teheran is 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA and .185 opponents' average in his past three starts, with 20 strikeouts, four walks and one homer in 22 1/3 innings. He's 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in three starts vs. Arizona, including 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two at Chase Field. … Santana is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in two starts against the Diamondbacks and Harang is 3-8 despite a solid 3.20 ERA in 17 games (16 starts) against them.
Miscellaneous: Former D-back Justin Upton has a .308 average with 68 homers, 221 RBIs and a .392 OBP and .551 slugging percentage in 367 games at Chase Field. He's ranked among NL leaders with a .380 home average, but his .194 road average was tied for fourth-lowest among NL qualifiers before Thursday. … Craig Kimbrel, who needs one save to break John Smoltz's franchise career record, has a career-worst 4.82 ERA in 10 appearances vs. Arizona. His 8.10 ERA in four games at Chase Field is his highest at any current park.
About the Diamondbacks
Batting: Martin Prado was 29-for-85 (.341) with 16 RBIs and a .400 OBP in his past 23 games before Thursday's series finale at Colorado. The ex-Brave had a team-high .328 average (19-for-58) with runners in scoring position. … A.J. Pollock ranked among NL leaders with a .358 home average, just ahead of teammate Chris Owings (.352). But Pollock suffered a broken hand when he was hit by a pitch last weekend and will miss two months.
Pitching: McCarthy is 0-4 with a 5.36 ERA in seven home starts, despite 40 strikeouts and only seven walks in 45 1/3 innings. The D-backs scored no runs while he was in four of those games. McCarthy hasn't faced the Braves. … Miley is 0-2 with an 11.81 ERA in three games (two starts) vs. the Braves. Anderson has never faced them.
Miscellaneous: Prado is 8-for-20 (.400) with a double in six games against the Braves since they traded him to Arizona in the January 2013 deal involving Upton and Johnson. … Paul Goldschmidt was 18-for-56 (.321) with RISP with team-bests of .385 OBP and .643 slugging percentage in those situations before Thursday.
David O’Brien
