The Atlanta Braves took care of business in game two of their weekend set with the San Francisco Giants with a 7-3 win on Saturday. They'll try for a series sweep on Sunday evening as they play on National television.
Jared Shuster gets the start for Atlanta and carries in a 4-2 record with a 5.00 ERA through 45 big league innings this year. Shuster has struggled a bit this season at both the MLB and MiLB levels.
Snit confirmed Jared Shuster will get the start in the series finale tomorrow night between the Braves & Giants. We’ll see you back on @BallySportsSO Monday for the opener with the Rockies✌🏼
— Kelly Crull (@Kelly_Crull) August 27, 2023
His last start for the Braves was on June 24th against the Cincinnati Reds where he pitched just 3.2 innings allowing 4 earned runs on 7 hits with 2 strikeouts. He was promptly sent back to Triple-A after this start and hasn't made an appearance since.
His ERA at the minor league level sits at 5.77 through 64 total innings with 32 walks and 49 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .295 against him as well. He is 2-5 at Gwinnett since being sent down in June and has a 7.32 ERA through 39.2 innings pitched.
Walks have still been an issue for the lefty as he has almost as many walks as strikeouts. During those 8 games at Gwinnett, he walked 18 while striking out 26 of them. Not very encouraging results if you're the Braves front office.
Shuster does have a couple of nice outings in Atlanta so there's a chance he could pitch well but right now, it's hard to say what to expect from him tonight. If the command isn't there, we are in for a long night. He's still young and still learning which comes with growing pains when pitching at the big league level. Hopefully, he can give Atlanta 5 or 6 quality innings tonight in the Bay area.
He will face off with Giants pitcher Tristan Beck who will face the Braves for a third time this season. Beck is more of an opener for the Giants as he's only reached 5+ innings twice this entire season. His last two outings against the Braves through 4 total innings combined.
Atlanta was only able to get 2 hits and struck out 5 times against Beck during those two games. They'll be looking to improve that this evening and get that sweep. The Braves offense has been really good this weekend so he'll have his work cut out for him.
Braves offense and rotation has been stellar
Atlanta currently finds themselves 40 games over .500 with an 84-44 record. The month of August has been excellent for them offensively and on the pitching side as well.
Offensively, they are batting .295 as a team with a .887 OPS in the month of August. That features 245 hits, 157 runs scored, 46 2B, 5 3B, 43 HR, and 152 RBI. They've walked 93 times while striking out 186 times.
They have two players with 30+ homers and have 3 others that are closing in on giving the Braves 5 players with 30+ homers. Atlanta also has 8 players with 15+ homers and matches the record that was set in 2022.
Austin Riley hit his 30th homer to make #Braves the only team with two hitters already at 30 or more (Matt Olson leads NL w/ 43).
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 27, 2023
Orlando Arcia hit his 15th homer to give the Braves 8 players with at least 15, tying a franchise record set last season. (Michael Harris II has 12)
On the pitching side, the Braves have a collective 3.37 ERA in August which is 4th best in all of baseball. The starters have an ERA of 3.38 ERA through 208 innings and the relievers carry a 2.08 ERA through 78 innings pitched.
It's been an all-around great performance for this team and something you'd expect from a World Series-caliber team. With key relievers and starters (i.e. Wright, Lee, Chavez) working their way back, those numbers have the potential to be even better.
Game Information
Date and Location: 08/27/2023 at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California
Time: 7:10 PM EST
Watch: ESPN
Listen: 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan