Braves Preview: Bryce Elder faces off with Sandy Alcantara in Game 3 versus Miami
The Atlanta Braves (16-8) have treated fans to two straight nights of excellent pitching and offensive output. Charlie Morton was excellent for Atlanta on Tuesday evening as he tossed seven brilliant innings. Bryce Elder will look to do the same on Wednesday as he opposes Marlins (12-12) ace, Sandy Alcantara.
Hopefully the offense has saved some of their firepower for Elder and give him some cushion to work with. Elder has proven he is able to handle the adjustments that pitching for a Major League team requires. His mental toughness has been extremely impressive to say the least.
Braves vs. Marlins Pitching Matchup 04/26/2023
As stated above, Bryce Elder will take the mound for Atlanta looking to improve upon his 2-0 start to the season. Elder currently has an ERA sitting at 1.14 and there's a very strong chance that number will drop even lower on Wednesday night.
Elder didn't get the win against Houston, unfortunately as they were able to come back late and beat the Braves in his start. However, in that game he pitched 6 innings allowing no runs on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. It just feels like Elder has figured things out in 2023 and knows he belongs (very similarly to what Kyle Wright did in 2022).
He will oppose Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara (1-2, 5.47 ERA) who hasn't been pitching as well as he'd like to. His first start against Minnesota was a complete game shut-out. However, his next start against the Phillies was very rough as he allowed nine runs on ten hits over 4 innings of work.
He rebounded a bit against the Diamondbacks as he tossed 6 innings allowing just three earned runs and striking out nine batters. He clearly still has the stuff to make batters swing and miss easily. Alcantara has been historically good against the Braves with a career ERA of 2.42 in 67 innings against them.
More specifically, his ERA at Truist Park sits at an impressive 2.97 over 36.1 innings pitched there. He will be facing an extremely talented Atlanta Braves offense that has come to life over the last two games. They will have their work cut out for them as Alcantara has a K/9 rate of 7.8 against the Braves. That's one thing this team is struggling with as they have the third most strikeouts in all of MLB with 230 of them so far.
This should be another fun pitching match-up to witness and hopefully, the Braves win their third straight game to take the series against Miami. The offense has been impressive thus far but they will have to work hard to beat a pitcher who is extremely familiar and comfortable facing them.
How to experience Braves vs. Marlins Game 3
Date/Time/Location: 4/26/23 at 7:20 PM EST at Truist Park
Watch: Braves - Bally Sports South
Listen: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan