The Atlanta Braves have scored just five runs in their last three games, but hope to get a big offensive boost on Tuesday for their second game against the Cincinnati Reds. Third baseman Chipper Jones is expected to be back after suffering a contusion on his left ankle.
Jones has been out since Friday after getting drilled by a B.J. Upton grounder, but told reporters on Monday he was recovering.
“It’s a little better,” Jones told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I still feel like I’m probably a day or two away. I have a golf-ball sized blister right there that has got to go away. If I were to foul a ball off of that right now, you might as well just dig a hole and bury me right there at home plate. I’m not getting up.”
Bad timing considering the Reds are using special bases with the phrase “Celebrating the career of no. 10 Chipper Jones” on them.
In Jones’ absence, the Braves dropped the first game of the series 4-1 on Monday. The top of Cincinnati’s order did most of the damage, using the combination of Drew Stubbs, Zack Cozart and Joey Votto to go 5 for 9 with three RBI and three runs.
The top of the lineup has also been critical to Atlanta’s offense as of late, only in the reverse. Michael Bourn is just 1 for his last 17, dropping his season average to .314.
That might change tonight, though, against a struggling Mat Latos who hasn’t gone past the fifth inning in either of his last two starts. Opponents are hitting .277 against him on the year, pushing his WHIP to 1.57.
“I just have to come out, attack the zone and throw strikes,” he told his team’s website. “Sometimes I’m not executing my pitches and it gets my pitch count up. Sometimes I feel like we fall in love with the same pitch over and over again and you have guys that battle.”
He’ll start opposite Atlanta’s Brandon Beachy, who is fresh off a five-hit shutout against the Miami Marlins. Beachy leads the league with a 1.33 ERA and his 0.89 WHIP is fifth, making him just the fifth Braves pitcher with an era under 1.50 in his first eight starts since the team moved to Atlanta. Opponents are hitting just .177 against him. Unlike Latos, Beachy has given his bullpen relief by going deeper into games than he did last year.
“There was always that one inning last year when I just couldn’t get over the hump, couldn’t make that one pitch or those two pitches to get out of it to keep going,” he told his team’s website. “I’ve been able to make some of those this year.”
According to Bovada, that makes Atlanta a 1 1/2 run favorite in Braves vs. Reds Betting Lines.