San Francisco @ Atlanta preview
Truist Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 18, 2023 ) San Francisco 0, Atlanta 4
Atlanta Braves right-hander Yonny Chirinos has a tough act to follow when he takes the mound on Saturday night against the visiting San Francisco Giants.
Well, three tough acts, actually.
Fresh off of three straight shutouts and five in their last eight games, the Braves will turn to Chirinos (5-5, 5.22 ERA) in a bid to extend their winning streak to five contests.
Atlanta followed 5-0 and 2-0 victories over the New York Yankees with a decisive 4-0 romp over the Giants on Friday in the opener of a three-game series.
"The pitching has been really good this year," Atlanta's Spencer Strider said after he allowed one hit and struck out 10 in seven innings vs. San Francisco.
"A lot of people have been critical of it recently, but if you play 162 games, I think you're going to see a little bit of everything. We were due for a little bit of a lull, but everybody's right back where they've been all year."
Atlanta's Michael Harris II credited his team's consistent pitching, even after he scored on a double from Austin Riley in the second inning and collected his fourth hit with an RBI single in the sixth.
"This is huge. We have a great (pitching) staff," Harris told Bally Sports South. "... Coming into this part of the season, it's pretty good to see our pitchers locking in a little more and being great down the stretch."
Marcell Ozuna carries a 15-game hitting streak into Saturday's contest against Giants right-hander Logan Webb (9-9, 3.26).
As for Chirinos, he'll look to rebound from consecutive six-run, seven-hit performances in his last two outings. He surrendered four homers in a no-decision against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 8 before keeping the ball in the park in a 7-6 loss to the New York Mets on Sunday.
Chirinos, 29, won his lone career start against the Giants on April 7, 2019, after scattering two hits and striking out five over five scoreless innings.
While the Braves have won seven of their last eight games, the Giants have dropped seven of their last nine overall and 11 of their last 12 on the road.
Webb, 26, has turned in two consecutive strong performances, only to settle for no-decisions. He allowed two runs (one earned) in 5 2/3 innings against the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 7 and one run in 8 2/3 frames against the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Webb is second in the majors with 163 innings pitched this season, just 1 1/3 innings behind Miami's Sandy Alcantara, and Webb is proud of his standing.
"It's something I'm trying to be," Webb said, per Sports Illustrated. "A goal of mine was to lead the league in innings this year, and that's a goal where the team has to obviously let me keep going six or seven or eight. But it's been awesome. They trust me, and I'm just trying to throw as many innings as I can."
Webb is 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA in four career starts vs. Atlanta.
--Field Level Media