While the Astros are the better team, they won’t have the services of their top starters in this series, and the Braves will aim to take advantage by picking up the sweep. Houston has already distanced itself from its three AL West counterparts and would love to stay on the gas by picking up a pair of wins over the Braves.
This series will be contested from Tuesday, May 9 through Wednesday, May 10, 2017 at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas.
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Pitching Matchups
The Braves will send the ageless Bartolo Colon to the mound in the first game on Tuesday. He is 1-3 on the season with a 6.27 ERA and will aim to lower that in this one. He has 23 strikeouts against only nine walks in 33 innings pitched on the season, and while the ERA is ugly right now, it should go down if he continues to limit the walks and punches out a solid number of batters.
The Astros will counter with Charlie Morton. He is 3-2 with a 3.97 ERA this season. He has an impressive 39 strikeouts on the year in 34 innings pitched and is coming off a strong outing against the Rangers. Houston should have the pitching advantage in this one.
In the last game of the series, the Braves are scheduled to start Jaime Garcia, who is 1-1 with a 3.99 ERA. He does not have a good strikeout-to-walk ratio but hasn’t given up more than two earned runs in any of his past three starts. However, this is a tough matchup against a good Astros offense.
Houston’s starter is slated to be Joe Musgrove. He is 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA. He has been hurt by the long ball this season and must keep the ball inside the yard.
Trade Addition
The Braves picked up utility man Danny Santana in a trade with the Twins on Monday. He had a big year in 2014 but has not hit well ever since. Santana adds speed but doesn’t give Atlanta much of a boost offensively.
He may be seen as an option to play shortstop in case Dansby Swanson continues to struggle. The former No. 1 overall pick is batting only .151 on the season with two homers, seven RBIs and a .439 OPS through 106 at-bats.
Swanson has high upside but needs to figure it out at the plate or else he could be sent back down to the minor leagues for more seasoning. Santana could see a few at-bats in this series but he’s not going to make a big difference. Swanson would love to break out with a big couple of games, but he’s shown no signs of doing so thus far.
Player to Watch
Jose Altuve -- The Astros three-hole hitter is batting .304 with a .377 on base percentage. He went two-for-four including a three-run home run Sunday in the Astros’ 5-3 win over the Angels.
Altuve has five home runs so far this season. He has a had at least one hit in six of the last ten games he’s played in and has scored eight runs in that span.
The Astros have a nice young core of batters including Carlos Correa and George Springer. However, Altuve has proven to be the biggest star of the bunch. The Braves must keep him in check during this series or else Houston may be able to come away with a pair of victories.
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