D-backs Battle Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Braves this Week in Atlanta

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in Atlanta to face the Braves for a three-game series starting Tuesday night. This series may be a case of one struggling team looking to get right against the other struggling team.

While they managed to win a game on Sunday, the D-backs are 2-9 in their last 11 games, and are three games under .500 with a 28-31 record. They're 5.0 games out of the NL Wild Card with five teams in front of them (the Nationals have the same record, but hold the tie-breaker advantage having won the season series 4-2).

The Braves have been having an equally tough time this season. They're 27-31, a half game further back than the Diamondbacks and are 3-8 in their last 11 games. They took two of three from the Diamondbacks in late April.

The two teams are an interesting study in contrasts. The D-backs have the fourth-best offense in the league, but are 26th in runs allowed per game. The Braves have the 10th-lowest runs allowed per game, but are 19th in runs scored per game.

One thing they share in common, however, is a poor record in one-run games. The D-backs are 8-11 while the Braves are worse at 9-14.

TALE OF THE TAPE

D-backs and Braves Team Level Comparison | Jack Sommers

Starting Pitching Matchups

Tuesday, June 3, 4:15 p.m. MST

Zac Gallen, RHP 3-7, 5.54 ERA, 4.58 FIP 66.2 IP. The former ace of the Diamondbacks' staff, Gallen has struggled in 2025, mostly due to an increased walk rate to a career-worst 4.3/9. This is a continuation of a trend from last year.

Gallen is 2-2 lifetime with a 3.50 ERA against the Braves, though neither of those wins has come since 2022. He took the loss April 25, giving up three runs in five innings. He needed 103 pitches to record 15 outs in a game Atlanta went on to win 8-2.

Spencer Strider, RHP 0-3, 4.50 ERA, 4.94 FIP in 14 IP. Strider missed almost all of 2024 due to Elbow Surgery (Internal Brace). He made one start on April 16 and then went back on the injured list with a hamstring strain.

Strider took the loss in his last outing against the Phillies but only gave up one run in 4.2 innings. He's 1-1 with a 6.20 ERA in four career starts against the Diamondbacks.

Wednesday, June 4, 4:15 p.m. MST

Merrill Kelly, RHP 5-2, 3.78 ERA, 3.56 FIP in 69 IP. Kelly had a no-decision April 26 against the Braves at Chase Field. He went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk. Both runs scored on solo homers. Atlanta won that game 8-7 in 10 innings after the bullpen blew a 6-2 lead.

Kelly has only made one prior start in Truist park, back in 2022 when he threw seven scoreless innings. One thing to watch will be the potential cramping issues. Game time temperature will be in the high 70s with high humidity and a chance of rain.

Chris Sale, LHP 3-3, 3.06 ERA, 2.99 FIP in 67.2 IP. Sale recently recorded his 2,500th strikeout. The 36-year-old has a career 141-86 record and 3.04 ERA. While his record and ERA are not quite what they were last year when he won the Cy Young Award, he's still pitching very well. Especially lately, as over his last eight games he has a 1.69 ERA and hasn't given up more than two runs in any of those games.

Sale is only getting 4.0 runs per game of support, and just 3.0 while he's still been in the game, which explains his mediocre win-loss record. He pitched five innings against the D-backs, allowing one run in that April 25 game to get the win.

Thursday, June 5, 9:15 a.m. MST

Brandon Pfaadt, RHP 7-4, 5.05 ERA, 5.02 FIP in 62 IP. Brandon Pfaadt suffered the worst outing of his career on Saturday against the Nationals, allowing eight runs in the first inning without recording an out.

Pfaadt has made three starts against the Braves in his career and is 2-0 with a 3.57 ERA. One of those victories came April 27 when he threw six innings and allowed three runs, two earned.

Grant Holmes, RHP 3-4, 3.78 ERA, 4.66 FIP in 64.1 IP. The 29-year-old Holmes is in just his second season in the majors. It was Holmes who the D-backs jumped out to that 6-2 lead against on April 26, before the D-backs' bullpen bailed him out by getting him off the hook.

Offense

The D-backs have seven hitters with an OPS over .800 so far, with Ketel Marte (.930) and Corbin Carroll (.877) leading the way. Carroll has been slumping of late however, going 3-for-31 in his last eight games. Eugenio Suárez shares the team lead in homers with Carroll, tallying 16 long balls. He also leads the team in RBI with 44, three ahead of Geraldo Perdomo, who has 41.

Speaking of Perdomo, after reaching a .307 batting average and .899 OPS on May 20, he's hit just .179 over his last 10 games without an extra base hit.

Josh Naylor has been a steady presence in the order, batting .297 with 14 doubles and seven homers, while driving in 37 runs.

Ronald Acuña Jr. is back and doing Ronald Acuña Jr. things. In nine games since coming off the injured list he's batting .324 with three homers and a 1.042 OPS. Marcel Ozuna leads the team with a .901 OPS, but has just 25 RBI as teams have been pitching around him. He leads the league with 48 walks.

Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin has been a revelation at the plate in part-time play. The left-hand batter is hitting .321 with an .868 OPS, including five homers in 114 PA.

Bullpen

Braves closer Rasiel Iglesias is 3-4 with a 5.64 ERA. He has eight saves, but has blown three. The rest of their relief corp has been very solid for the season, as they have six different relievers with over 20 innings pitched.

The D-backs seem to have settled into Justin Martinez as the closer with Shelby Miller as the primary setup man. The rest of the bullpen is a pretty big question mark however, having been a revolving door this season.

The D-backs were planning to make Ryne Nelson a full-time reliever, but the injury to Corbin Burnesmight end up altering that decision.