Atlanta Braves Look to Secure Early Series Win on Saturday Against The Arizona Diamondbacks

The Atlanta Braves have Max Fried on the mound; here's the lineups and how to watch

The Atlanta Braves walked off the Arizona Diamondbacks in ten innings last night, but emotions were tempered as news spread of the “elbow discomfort” to starter Spencer Strider that’s going to be further diagnosed via MRI today. 

(No, we don’t yet know the results. We’ll have a chance to meet with Brian Snitker prior to batting practice, and we’ll pass along any update we get at that time.)

But Atlanta’s got to shake it off as they get set for game two, with Max Fried on the bump on a beautiful Saturday evening. 

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, April 6th

Here's how Atlanta will line up for the contest:

RF Ronald Acuña Jr
2B Ozzie Albies
3B Austin Riley
1B Matt Olson
DH Marcell Ozuna
CF Michael Harris II
SS Orlando Arcia
C Travis d'Arnaud
LF Jarred Kelenic

Max Fried’s the starting pitcher for today, looking for a much longer outing than last Saturday’s 2/3rd of an inning against Philly. Fried didn’t face Arizona in his injury-impacted 2023, but in 2022, he had an amazing outing against the Diamondbacks - No runs across seven innings, with four hits and two walks but also five strikeouts in a 1-0 Braves victory. 

Here's Arizona's lineup today:

2B Ketel Marte
CF Corbin Carroll
LF Lourdes Gurriel Jr.
1B Christian Walker
3B Eugenio Suárez
DH Randal Grichuk
C Gabriel Moreno
RF Jake McCarthy
SS Blaze Alexander

Brandon Pfaadt didn’t face Atlanta last season, and so Braves hitters haven’t seen him yet in live action. He changed some things en route to “breaking out” in the postseason, adjusting his alignment on the pitching rubber (moving to the 1st base side) to help his sweeper play up and introducing a sinker against lefties to keep the four-seam fastball from getting shelled. But his start against Colorado last week, which went well (5IP, 5H, 1R, 0BB to 6 Ks) looked more like the pre-postseason version of Pfaadt, as he leaned heavily on the four-seam fastball and a harder sweeper. 

If the Rockies version of Pfaadt is what we get tonight, I like Atlanta’s chances. I think the postseason version would be a tougher test for the Braves. 

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, April 6th. 

Today's game one is scheduled for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch with a full suite of broadcast options. In-market, the Braves broadcast is on Bally Sports South, with out-of-market fans being able to watch that or the Diamondbacks self-distributed feed on MLB.tv. For audio, the Arizona broadcast is available on ESPN Phoenix 620 & KQMR Latino Mix 100.3 FM, while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country.