Braves/Giants: Braves or the broom?
(MLB) Atlanta vs. San Francisco, 09/19/2021 4:05 PM, Score: 3 - 0
Money Line: -117.00 San Francisco (Home)
Result: Loss
Braves (Fried, 11-7, 3.47) vs Giants (Desclafani, 12-6, 3.24)

At 8-2 and 2-0 against the Braves in this series, the Giants are at peak performance right now. And yet they still don’t have any breathing room over the Dodgers. The Braves have lost 4 straight, which has really tightened up the race in the NL East. The Giants look to Anthony Desclafani for the sweep. After a bit of a rough patch in August, he has given up only 4 runs in three games in September. The Giants have given him a ton of support this year with a 19-9 team record when Desclafani is on the mound.

Max Fried starts for the Braves, and if anyone can get them back on track it is he. Fried has been rock steady, pitching 6+ innings a start, and giving up less than 3 runs a game.

Atlanta’s bullpen, middle of the road usually, has been very good with a 1.65 ERA /Last 7 games. The Giants’ pen has been its usual solid entity, but has been heavily used of late, at 5.00 innings a game.

The Braves are a good road team, but only 11-16 as a road underdog. They are 53-53 vs. right-handers, and only 8-14 vs. the NL West. The Giants are 48-25 at home, 26-19 vs left-handers, and a very solid 52-24 with a total similar to today’s. And man, are their bats on fire, 2nd in the league at the moment.

Much as I admire Fried, I like the Giants today. Desclafani has been equal in quality starts, and the Giants at the moment have just too much going for them to lose this one. Take the Giants to win outright.