The Braves got a bit of good news prior to Tuesday night’s game when the Padres traded center fielder Will Venable to the Rangers for minor league catcher Marcus Greene Jr. and a player to be named later.
Venable has been a thorn in the Braves’ side. He had a two-run single to give the Padres a 3-0 lead in the second inning of Monday’s 5-3 Padres win, and has a .314 career average against Atlanta with 14 extra-base hits (seven homers), a .369 OBP and .526 slugging percentage in 41 games.
In his last eight games against the Braves, including six San Diego wins, Venable was 13-for-31 (.419) with six RBIs.
With Venable scratched from Tuesday’s lineup, former Brave Melvin Upton Jr. was inserted in center field, adding one more layer to the Braves-Padres connections for the second game of the three-game series.
The Padres had Upton brothers, former Braves Justin and Melvin Jr., in left and center field, and closer Craig Kimbrel waiting in the bullpen. The Braves had former Padres Jace Peterson at second and Cameron Maybin in center field, and former Padres pitching prospect Matt Wisler on the mound.
It was Wisler’s first start in San Diego, and he was facing, rather than pitching for, the team that drafted and developed him into the Padres’ top pitching prospect. They traded him to the Braves on the eve of opening day along with Maybin and others in the blockbuster deal that sent Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. to the Padres.
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