The Atlanta Braves hope veteran Charlie Morton can bounce back from a rough start and enable them to extend their winning streak to six games when they host the Texas Rangers on Saturday night.
Morton (1-0. 5.29 ERA) will oppose Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (1-1, 2.92) in the second contest of the three-game series. The Braves recorded an 8-3 victory in the opener on Friday.
Morton will make his fourth start of the season. The right-hander has pitched 5 2/3 innings in each start but has not received a decision in his two most recent outings. In his last start on Sunday, Morton allowed a season-high six runs on seven hits, one walk and eight strikeouts at Miami.
Morton has made seven career starts against Texas, going 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA. He’s struck out 57 in 40 innings against the Rangers. In his lone appearance against them in 2023, Morton picked up a win after firing 6 2/3 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts.
Eovaldi is off to an outstanding start. He will make his fifth start of the season, going at least 5 2/3 innings in each. He’s got 22 strikeouts in 24 2/3 innings and became the team’s first pitcher with at least 22 strikeouts and an ERA lower than 3.00 in his first four starts since Lance Lynn in 2020.
Eovaldi pitched six innings in his most recent start against the Houston Astros on Sunday and allowed five runs on eight hits — including two homers. He finished the outing by retiring seven of his last nine batters faced.
“One of the frustrating parts about (the last start) was I felt like I made good pitches at times, and they were still able to put the ball in play,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like that’s one of the things that the Astros do well as a whole. They’re able to expand the strike zone but make it tough at-bats and tough outs.”
Eovaldi has made 16 career starts against the Braves, going 3-3 with a 2.89 ERA. But he has only faced the Braves twice since 2019. His last outing against Atlanta came on May 17, 2023, when he received a no-decision after allowing three runs in seven innings.
On Friday night, Atlanta got three home runs, including a grand slam, from catcher Travis d’Arnaud. It was the first three-homer game by an Atlanta player since Adam Duvall on Sept. 9, 2020.
“Just trying to stay short,” d’Arnaud said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than be good.”
His bid for a fourth homer was denied as he grounded out in the eighth inning.
“I’m sure everybody was hoping to see something like that,” d’Arnaud said.
Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna extended his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games with an RBI single on Friday.
Texas second baseman Marcus Semien had two hits, including his second leadoff homer of the season, on Friday. Semien is 11-for-37 with three homers, three doubles, eight RBIs and eight runs in eight games on the Rangers’ 10-game road trip.
