Braves rookie Mike Soroka, a 20-year-old Canadian, will pitch in Rogers Centre for the first time as a professional Tuesday when he faces Blue Jays left-hander Jaime Garcia, a former Brave, in the opener of a two-game series. Here are five things to know about the pitching matchup and the brief series, the only two road games for the Braves amid a 14-game stretch.
1. Soroka, who'll have family members and friends in attendance from his hometown of Calgary, is coming off a resounding return from the disabled list Wednesday. He took a no-hitter to the seventh inning against the Mets after missing one month with a shoulder strain. Over his past two starts, the mature-beyond-his-years righty has allowed nine hits, one earned run and two walks with 11 strikeouts in 11 innings.
2. The youngest pitcher in the majors, Soroka is 2-1 with a 2.57 ERA and .660 opponents' OPS in four big-league starts and has surrendered one or no earned runs in three of those outings.
3. Garcia won two of his first three starts this season, but in starts since he's 0-5 with a 6.43 ERA and .357 opponents' OBP, totaling 37 strikeouts while allowing 23 walks and 46 hits in 42 innings. He lasted five or fewer innings in six of his past eight starts.
4. Garcia is 3-1 with a 3.62 ERA in eight career starts against the Braves, those coming as a Cardinal from 2010 through 2016. This will be the first time he's faced Atlanta since making 18 starts for the Braves last season prior to being traded to Minnesota. Against Garcia, Freddie Freeman is 4-for-13 with two home runs, one walk and seven strikeouts; Nick Markakis is 3-for-10 and Ender Inciarte is 2-for-9.
5. The Blue Jays are riding a seven-game home winning streak that began after home-series losses against the Athletics (four-game sweep), Angels and Yankees. The win streak started with a four-game sweep of the Orioles and continued with a three-game sweep of the Nationals that helped increase Atlanta's lead over Washington in the NL East. In between the two home-series sweeps, the Jays were swept in three games at Tampa Bay.
The Braves, meanwhile, are 4-8 with a 4.77 ERA and 21 home runs allowed in their past 12 road games and last won a road series May 10-13 when they took three of four at Miami. In that same period at SunTrust Park the Braves are 10-4 with a 2.75 ERA and 10 homers allowed in 14 home games. They completed a 5-1 homestand Sunday.
