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Braves look to sweep Dodgers Wednesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 7/22/2015  at  10:21:00 AM
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LOS ANGELES DODGERS (53-41)

at ATLANTA BRAVES (44-49)

First pitch: Wednesday, 12:10 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -140, Atlanta +130 Total: 7.5

The struggling Braves look to turn things around when they face the Dodgers in Atlanta on Wednesday.

The Dodgers have lost two straight against this Braves team, but Los Angeles has still won six of its past 10 games and is up against an Atlanta team that lost seven of its previous eight games before starting this series off with two home victories. The Dodgers will look to snap out of it and pick up a with against the Braves on Wednesday, as they have everything in the world to play for as they compete for a playoff spot. Starting for the Dodgers on Wednesday will be RHP Mike Bolsinger (4-3, 3.04 ERA, 71 K) and he’ll be facing RHP Julio Teheran (6-4, 4.53 ERA, 91 K) in this one. The Braves have gotten the better of the Dodgers this season, winning three of the five meetings between these teams. Atlanta is also 7-4 at home against Los Angeles over the past three seasons and 2-0 on the year. One thing that favors the Dodgers in this game is that the Braves are just 19-33 against the money line when facing an NL West opponent over the past two seasons. The Dodgers, however, are a lousy 6-13 against the money line as a road favorite of -125 to -175 this season. C Yasmani Grandal (Facial) is likely to be out for the Dodgers, who are already without LF Carl Crawford (Oblique) for another few games. The Braves are going to be without 1B Freddie Freeman (Wrist) until next week, but they remain relatively healthy outside of that injury.

The Dodgers will be looking to avoid a sweep on Wednesday and Mike Bolsinger will be on the mound. Bolsinger hasn’t pitched poorly for the Dodgers recently, but he has struggled to go deep into games. He has pitched more than six innings in just one of his past 10 starts and he’ll need to work a little later into this one for Los Angeles. One plus for him is that he has allowed just three earned runs in his past 10 innings on the mound and has allowed just six hits in those games. SS Jimmy Rollins (.204, 8 HRs, 29 RBIs) is going to be somebody to keep an eye on in this game. He is hitless in his past four contests, but he is 8-for-25 with a homer and four RBIs against Julio Teheran in his career. He’ll look to break out of his slump against a pitcher he has had a lot of success against in the past. Two guys that have had success against Teheran as well are RF Yasiel Puig (.265, 5 HRs, 19 RBIs) and 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.296, 21 HRs, 60 RBIs), who are both more reliable than Rollins. The two are a combined 8-for-15 with two homers and five RBIs against Teheran and they will need to provide some firepower if the Dodgers are going to win the final game of this series.

The Braves have opened this series with two wins and they desperately needed them after hitting a rough patch around the All-Star break. Now Julio Teheran will take the mound and he has not been on top of his game recently. Teheran only allowed two earned runs his last time on the mound, but he was only able to go 4.2 innings in that game and needs to turn the corner moving forward. He was brutal in his last start against the Dodgers this season, allowing eight earned runs and 10 hits in 4.1 innings of work. One guy who will be excited to go up against Mike Bolsinger is SS Andrelton Simmons (.254, 3 HRs, 30 RBIs). Simmons is 2-for-3 in his career against the Dodgers’ starter and has three RBIs in those at-bats. CF Cameron Maybin (.283, 8 HRs, 44 RBIs) will be counted on to provide a spark for Atlanta, but he has not driven in a run in eight games now. He must break out of his slump or it’ll be tough for this team to win games moving forward. Two guys that have stepped up for the team have been RF Nick Markakis (.292, 1 HR, 32 RBIs) and 3B Juan Uribe (.273, 8 HRs, 23 RBIs), who have combined to drive in five RBIs over the past two contests. They’ll need to produce on Wednesday as well.


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