NL East Division rivals will battle on Saturday evening, when the Atlanta Braves and the Washington Nationals continue their weekend series from the nation’s capital. The Braves (60-56) have won eight of their last ten games and are tied with Philadelphia for first place. Last night, OF Austin Riley's seventh inning solo shot lifted Atlanta to a 4-2 road victory.
Twenty-seven year old left-hander Max Fried (9-7 3.91 ERA) will take the mound for the Braves in this matchup. Fried has won consecutive starts and has allowed just one run over his last 12 innings of work.
The Washington Nationals have dropped ten of their previous 11 games and have fallen ten games back in the NL East Division race. On Friday, Washington SP Josiah Gray (0-1) gave up three runs in six innings and took the loss. All-Star OF Juan Soto had two hits and drove in a run for the Nationals (50-66).
The Nationals will counter with thirty-two year old southpaw Patrick Corbin (6-11 5.83 ERA) on Saturday. Washington has lost Corbin’s last five starts and he has given up 23 runs over his last 28 plus frames.