The Atlanta Braves are struggling to keep in the mix of the National League wild card race, but somehow they are managing. Just when it appeared the team was going to get swept by the Washington Nationals, they pulled off a win and hope to build momentum heading into a series with the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have been struggling this season and the Braves aim to capitalize with only a handful of games remaining in the season.
The Braves have no hope in winning their division. They trail the Washington Nationals by 8 ½ games and the Braves are simply too inconsistent to make up the space. However, the wild card is still within reach with 16 games left in the year. They are two games back from the Pittsburgh Pirates and one-half game behind Milwaukee.
The Braves will put Alex Wood on the mound in hopes he can keep up his strong pitching of recently. Wood has a 1.95 ERA in his last eight starts, keeping opponents to a .193 batting average. In his last start against the Miami Marlins, he gave up just two runs and six innings in over seven innings of play. He is 2-1 with a 1.42 ERA in three interleague starts. He will be needed to balance out an inconsistent Braves offense that is averaging 5.7 runs and a .287 batting average when they win while putting up just 1.3 runs and a .131 average when they lose.
The Rangers are struggling lately. The team has lost 11 of their last 12 games after falling to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday. The Rangers will counter Wood with Derek Holland who is just coming back from the disabled list, going 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA. Holland missed the first five months of the season with a knee injury. He pitched against the Kansas City Royals at the start of September and put up one run, six hits in seven innings.
One player that enjoys hitting against Holland is BJ Upton who is 9 for 19 with a homer and two doubles against the pitcher. The Braves need to capitalize this weekend before facing off once again against the Nationals on Monday.
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