Kyle Wright starts Friday versus Phillies
The 9-5 Atlanta Braves will have their second road trip of the 60-game schedule starting Friday night in Philadelphia.
Kyle Wright (0-1, 7.50) gets the start for Atlanta in game one of the series against Phillies right-handed Vince Velasquez (0-0, 12.00). Game time is 7:05 pm ET.
They'll start an hour earlier Saturday as the Phillies will have Jake Arrieta (0-1, 5.40) on the mound. The Braves have not announced their starting pitcher for Saturday, but it's expected that Bryse Wilson will come up from the other camp and make his 2020 debut.
Sunday at 1:05 the Braves will have Max Fried (2-0, 2.04) on the hill. The Phillies have not announced their starter for Sunday or Monday. Atlanta will pitch Sean Newcomb (0-1, 6.57) in the wrap-around series finale Monday at 6:05 pm.
The Braves then move on to New York to play two games at Yankee Stadium. They'll have their first day off of the season next Thursday before starting a three-game set in Miami against the Marlins.
Wright went 3.1 scoreless innings last Sunday against the Mets. He allowed five hits and walked four with five strikeouts. The Braves need Wright to follow Touki Toussaint's lead and pitch well to provide strength in the back of the rotation.
The Phillies are 3-4 on the season and 2.5 games back of the Braves in the NL East. They obviously were impacted by the COVID-19 coronavirus as they had played the Miami Marlins in Philadelphia the first weekend of the season.
Philadelphia just started playing Monday and split a four-game series with the Yankees. They won 5-4 Thursday.
The Phillies have had bullpen problems. The have the worst bullpen ERA in baseball with a 8.14 mark. Atlanta's bullpen has an ERA of 2.72 in the first 14 games of the season.
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