Braves Vs. Mets Live Thread: Game 2

Mar 25, 2014; Lakeland, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Ervin Santana (30) reacts during the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

 Ervin is good to go.

A day after dropping their home opener on Hank Aaron Night, the Braves will look to get a win tonight against their NL East rival New York Mets. A win tonight would, for another day at least, keep the Braves from dropping their first series of the young season, and as we all know, if you just keep winning series you’ll be set.

The Mets will send former Paulding County product Zack Wheeler to the hill for his second start of the season. He lost to the Nationals in his last start, lasting six innings while allowing three runs. Meanwhile, the Braves send Ervin Santana (Can you #SmellBaseball???) to the mound, and he’s making his first start of the season, in place of the injured Kris Medlen. Reliever Pedro Beato was sent down to Gwinnett to make room for Santana. (At least he got in some time yesterday!)

Pitcher Info

Zack Wheeler features four pitches, but his four-seam fastball is his bread and butter; he throws this pitch over 60% of the time. He mixes in a curveball (more to lefties) and a slider (to righties), with his sinker as his fourth pitch.

Meanwhile, Ervin Santana is pretty much a two-pitch pitcher, a lesser Justin Masterson. Ervin throws a four-seam fastball and a slider, which is strikeout pitch. The fastball is used more to conduce ground balls, which he has done a good job of lately, with his ground ball% creeping towards 50% in recent years. He rarely throws a sinker or changeup, but be on the lookout for these pitches to left-handed batters if he gets ahead in the count.

Lineups

4/9 @Mets lineup vs Braves E. Young LF Murphy 2B Wright 3B Granderson RF Duda 1B Lagares CF d’Arnaud C Tejada SS Wheeler P

4/9 @Braves lineup vs NYM Heyward RF Simmons SS Freeman 1B Johnson 3B J Upton LF Uggla 2B Gattis C Schafer CF Santana P

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