Locked On Braves POSTCAST: Reynaldo Lopez helps Atlanta Braves even set with Philadelphia Phillies

you are a locked on Braves postcast part of locked on Sports Atlanta your team every day welcome into the Braves postcast part of the lock on podcast Network your team every day Grant MCCA and Jake mastriani with you after game two between the Braves and the Phillies this big four game Showdown is now even at a game of Peace Atlanta got great pitching from Ronaldo Lopez and plenty of offense to grab a 72 Victory and even up this series and give themselves a chance to maybe make a little Headway before the weekend is out in Philadelphia before we get ahead of ourselves though we're going to recap Game two talk about the big contributors in this game and then we'll get you set for game three of the series which happens on Saturday night before we get started though hit that Thumbs Up Button subscribe to lock on Sports Atlanta on YouTube and to lockon Braves wherever you get your podcast this episode is brought to you by prize pick the easiest most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to prize picks.com / lockon MLB use the code all lowercase locked on MLB for a first deposit match of up to $100 well Jake the Braves had some really good momentum coming into this series it hit a bit of a speed bump in game one quite obviously but game two behind Ronaldo Lopez and the offense that the Braves have been flashing on this road trip was more than enough to pick up a victory against the Phillies and even up this series what a what a bounce back by this team and we we talked about it yesterday how does this team respond and then well they responded by having a big win so you love to see that from this team whether they come back to win the series whether they come back to win the division it's games like this I think that still give you a lot of Hope with this team and what they're capable of going up against a good team against a good starting pitcher after a tough loss to be able to bounce back like that the offense just continue to score throughout this time great pitching it's why again I keep saying if this team can just get there whe whether that is the division or the wild card it's still a really good team that has a chance of making a Deep Run yeah I mean that's the thing they just got to put it all together and that's been the story of the 2024 bravs are they ever going to be able to put it all together are they ever going to have enough you know Warm Bodies on hand in some of these series to put things together but in all seriousness last couple of weeks we've seen some games like this more than I feel like we have at maybe any other juncture of the Season thus far and that to your point Jake I think is what gives you at least some optimism not only for this series and this weekend but what the Braves May able to be or may be able to do come September because you know I mean these games every single one of them in every single series is going to be important for this club it is and this is obviously a big one because you're playing your division rival and we've we've all hyped it up it is the Braves last chance Last Stand whatever you want to call it to get back in the division race but more importantly than that like we've been talking about it's just winning series it's winning games it's playing good consistent baseball and while Thursday was rough they had a chance to win that game and we talked about it maybe if you had your full alignment of relievers ready to go and available to go maybe you do win that game so you know even though they lost it you never feel like they were out of the game there have been times like that a lot of times like that this year Grant where this team was just out of it and it felt like they played some of these games and they didn't have a chance in it has not felt that way for the past couple of weeks and it's the stretch that I've really been wanting to see from this team can you go out and have a good two- week stretch because we've seen small stretches throughout the season but this is the longest stretch we've seen like this of them consistently playing good baseball and winning since early April so it's certainly great to see obviously they got to finish it off got to play like this the rest of the way but again I think it shows the team that that this team team shows the team that they can be when they are able to play like this and the offense on this road trip has just been great and they were obviously were great in this one they scored early what you liked about this one in opposed to Thursday's game is they continued to add on throughout that was so important these add-on runs which can make a game that in that ballpark I mean I think we can see it if you get a ball up in the air at the left field a lot of a lot of times that ball can get out and go for the Phillies they were able to I think take advantage of that on a ball that hey you know what the case it went over the wall and it made it a close game and it got them back in shouting distance they weren't able to get that in this series or excuse me in this game in game two of the series because the Braves continued to add on those runs another strong start from Ronaldo Lopez though is really what set the foundation for this Victory backed up of course by that consistent offensive attack but as we talked about previewing the game on you know after game one previewing this one in this pitching match up and Ronaldo Lopez seeing the Phillies for the second time in what just less than a couple of weeks since coming off the what was he going to have to offer were the Phillies going to maybe have ref familiarized themselves with him the answer to those was he was going to have plenty and the Phillies while familiar were unable to solve Ronaldo Lopez across his six Innings of work and you always wonder about that when a team sees a starter you know that close together can that especially when the pitcher is really good against him the first time do the hitters adjust to that does the pitcher stick with the same game plan or does he switch it up a little bit uh but certainly you know whatever the case may be Lopez was able to hold them down again just one run on four hits and a walk and this one so just another great performance by him and again we talked about it last night he's looked as good if not better since coming back from the injured list so that is certainly great to see you wonder what it would look like for him later in the year is he does he tire out does that velocity drop down so far we're not seeing any signs of that again I think we're seeing maybe the best version of Ronaldo Lopez that we've seen all year yeah we certainly have been seeing it since he came off the iel with that first performance against the Philly it just kind of I think served to maybe calm a lot of folks down because I'm sure there was some concern about all right you're pushing him past a certain Innings threshold that he had not done in five years how is he going to respond in August and in September the answer thus far after that three-week Hiatus that he took I kind of call it that because I'm sure he might have been dealing with some discomfort but as much as anything it allowed him to hit that kind of that reset button and recharge his batteries a bit and he definitely looks ready to go and amped up here in this start he was a very very big big piece of what the Braves were doing right on this night we'll talk more about that start as we go along Orlando Aria meanwhile had a big night at the plate only his second career multi-home Run game first in a Braves uniform and his first one got the scoring started and was part of back-to-back home runs with Shawn Murphy that Jake I don't need to tell you but we'll bring it up anyway so we can talk about it that's a welcome s on top of everything else yeah Shawn Murphy's been struggling a lot at the played here lately so that was great to see also walked twice in this game which even when he's been struggling that's something that he's typically been able to do is take those walks and get on base similar to Matt Olson when he's struggling he's usually still taking those walks but Orlando RC a grant he has taken on this villain role with these Phillies fans and he seems to be thriving uh with that role right now he had the big home run in Atlanta no game they lost but it was a big home run in the moment where he's staring down Bryce Harper there and he goes to Philadelphia now he has a big RBI double in Thursday's game in this one and then he comes back tonight a couple of home runs so again you hear those Phillies fans booing him all the way around the bases he he seems to be enjoying that re reveling in it and Performing ultimately for the Atlanta Braves and that's huge that's what you want Aria you know he had a cold start to the season was pretty awful there for a while but he has really started to turn things on down the stretch as far as this rivalry goes He seems to be kind of a a very a lightning rod of a character if you will between these two clubs and there's that old saying you know they don't boo nobody so Orlando Aria clearly has proven something to somebody somewhere up in Philly and they are not enjoying his success for whatever the case may be Ranger Suarez meanwhile isn't always the most fun for the Braves when he is on the mound but they did some work against him across four Innings I know he was coming off an injured listent probably not stretched all the way out again the Phillies are kind of working him back in and as we've talked about their second half is been far from ideal in a number of different ways and what's been going on with Ranger Suarez being a little bit slowed up that is part of what the Phillies have been fighting here lately and the Braves were able to rough him up a little bit at least for four runs across those four Innings great see because as we we've talked about it's a guy that's dominated the Braves and especially last postseason in two starts he dominated that Braves lineup so you know maybe he is a little banged up trying to work his way back but either way Braves had some good bats again him against him able to put some runs up on the board he's still struck out six so you can still see that ability that he has against this lineup but for the Braves to be able to take advantage of him right now while he is working his way back have some good at bats put some runs up on the board against him puts up some runs early and I thought that was key in this game after what happened on Thursday night to come out and put up a couple of runs in that third inning and then the fourth inning as well and take that early lead thought that was key but yeah to go against a pitcher that's really gotten the best of you for this short sample of his career I thought that was really big for this offense yeah I mean he did strike out six the first five batters he faced in the game as a matter of fact in the scoreless first couple of innings and then the next couple of innings the Braves seem to have made their adjustment and gotten their swings in as well the back-to-back home runs by Aria and Murphy that's not something that Rangers Suarez has given up too terribly often this year either Atlanta scored two runs in that third inning two more in the fourth two more in the sixth and another in the seventh and a much needed win I mean they're all must win games at this point but certainly if you wanted to go up to Philadelphia and at least make some kind of push in this divisional race and clearly have an opportunity to win every series because they are important as far as your postseason hopes are concerned in whatever form that takes you needed to bounce right back and answer for this game and as you talked about when we opened up seeing this team capable of doing that it hasn't always felt like that was the case all season long it hasn't and again that's what you you love about this little stretch that they're on because there's been so many times this year Bray may win two three games win three out of four but then they'll lose four out of five or four out of six something like that and it's just it's always it's felt like that all year long where maybe it's a couple steps forward but then it's two or three steps back and you just haven't been able to get on this run of success and you just haven't been playing that winning baseball like even the games they've lost here lately you know they've been in them you go to that back all the way back to that Colorado Series where you had that big lead and you blew that uh you know you had the game on Thursday and there's just even that their losses here lately are close losses games that you could see them easily winning couple of things go their way and so that's just it's been it's been really good to see because we haven't seen that a lot this year they've there have been plenty of losses this season where they just weren't in it at all in that game so that's really what I've been looking for know obviously still want to see it continue and they're still a big chunk of this season where we didn't see that so it it gives you you know holds you back a little bit uh but this is a really good stretch for this Braves team just to get that confidence back that you can win these games you can win these close games they've beaten good teams all season that hasn't really been the problem uh but being able to win these close games being able to do it consistently play good baseball consistently that's what we've been looking for yeah and like you talked about I mean sometimes they go out on the road and have maybe a nice little road trip and come home and slip on a banana peel and have a bad home stand and the next thing you know you're just trying to figure out what club am I watching here is it the one that I just saw last week that seemed like they might be clicking or the one that can't buy a run and is having trouble you know getting the the high leverage outs when they need to in some cases that hasn't necessarily been the case too much this season just based on how good this pitching staff has been it's been the caring Force for this club which is of course what we all uh anticipated in spring training when we were talking about the 2024 Braves but whatever you know form it has taken this pitching staff has certainly been a driving force for this club and they've needed it they've needed every bit of it and they're going to need more of it down the stretch as well we're going to take a break when we come back though we will talk more about raldo Lopez and the things that he did in this game as well as some good stuff going on with Matt Olsen we've touched on it the last few games well he kept a good streak going for himself we also preview game number three of the series which comes your way on Saturday all of that is next on the Braves postcast get hydrated with electrolytes essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients from the number one powdered hydration brand in America it's liquid IV blast off with the iconic summer flavor of popsicle firecracker a festive blend of citrus fueled lemon lime tart cherry and raspberry flavors no more thirsty Summers when you indulge in hydration with liquid IV get 20% off your first order of liquid IV when you go to liquid iv.com and use the code MLB at checkout that's 20% off your first order when you shop better hydration today using the promo code MLB liquid i.com let's look at the box score and the line score of this game which is much better than yesterdays as far as the final results is concerned for the Braves who improved to 74 and 61 on the season Phillies now 79 and 56 on the year Rays seven runs nine hits no errors they left five men on base Phillies with two runs on seven hits no errors left seven men on base zero hits with runners in scoring position that's something you always like to see from this Braves pitching staff winning pitcher is Ronaldo Lopez amazingly now 8 and four on the season it feels like he should have a lot more wins than that but with the stint on the IL and some of the no decisions not quite there yet but continues to pitch better than his record would even suggest and the loss goes to Ranger Suarez who drops to 11 and six on the year uh let's talk a little bit about Lopez who allowed a run on four hits it came on a solo home run by Bryson stot six strikeouts one walk across those six Innings ra drops down to 2.0 pretty impressive work from a guy that let's face it when he signed with the Braves and I know we've told this story before but we're going to keep telling it because he keeps writing more great chapters in it I don't think anybody could have expected the impact he was going to make on this pitching staff because we didn't even think he was going to be in this role and in best case scenario I think for those that thought maybe he'd be in the rotation was a fourth or fifth starter you know maybe a guy that could pitch in the middle of the rotation give you a three and a half four er nobody would have predicted a two erra at this point in the season and just how good and how you know dominant he has looked at times and it's it's truly fun to watch and it's you know he he threw in the curveball and change up a little bit more tonight but it is pretty much the fastball and slider and that slider obviously really good seven whiffs on 15 swings against that slider tonight but again we've talked about this all year long it really in my mind plays off that fastball and not just the fastball but the fastball command and being able to locate that just the one walk tonight so You' love to see that that means he's been able to locate in the zone and get those swings and misses get those calls strikes with that fast ball that you know can get up to 90 98 you had a 98.5 was the max tonight sitting 96 95 with it and it's just it's very impressive because you saw when he went to that reliever role how dominant he was able to be when he could throw upper 90s and have that dominant ctball and we all wondered does that translate can he carry it deep into ball games and I think we got enough a sample size Grant now to say that he can he certainly can I mean he has pitched like one of the best pitchers not just on this staff which is a lot of good pitchers but one of the best pitchers in baseball I mean a 2.00 erra this isn't a small sample size anymore and he's doing it all throughout the season early middle late uh it's just great to see from Ronaldo Lopez what another signing by Alex anthopolos uh he is you know he's been taking a lot of heat lately here wrongly so but he has made some really good moves for this Braves team and Ronaldo Lopez right up there at the top of that list yeah I mean and look every general manager is gonna have some moves that he hits on and some that he misses on that's just kind of the way that business and also life works if you're looking for that lesson here or weren't looking for it we have it for you on the Braves postcast but Lopez one of the best Braves stories this season Bar None that decision to make him a starting pitcher that Gambit if you want to call it that that's kind of how I've referred to it it's paid off big time for the Braves and who knew that it was going to be Chris sa and Ronaldo Lopez ultimately leading this rotation I mean Max freed has been fine I'm not knocking what he's done Charlie Morton's still a serviceable starter and obviously no one had Spencer schwelling boach on their bingo card for what this fiveman rotation was going to look like coming down the stretch but a big part of the success for it all season long has been the work of Chris S and Ronaldo Lopez who were brought over to strengthen a rotation and the guy you may have been counting on the most made two starts this year but hopefully have Spencer Strider back in this mix come next year but we've got a lot of baseball to talk about between this year and next year so we'll stick a pin in that um if you look at this I heard this in the broadcast as well I was unfamiliar with this but as somebody who watched the Braves a lot in the 90s I can tell you it's very good 19 straight starts for the Braves rotation with three earned runs or fewer that's the longest streak since it at least 1966 the fact that that did not happen in those rotations where you were talking about Greg Maddox John Smoltz Tom glavin Steve Avery Denny Nagel whoever it was that was putting to Kevin Milwood all of those rotations that you had throughout the course of the 1990s uh that I think is a testament to something else that the 2024 Braves have done which is show that they can not only give you quality but they can give you quantity at that they can I would I would venture to Guess that a lot of those starts back in the 90s they were going six seven eight Innings pretty regularly maybe that was attributing to some of it but either way I mean what this pitching staff has done it's no no secret this Braves team is where they are this year because of the starting rotation and if it weren't for Lopez cell schwellenbach the emergence of him freed Morton and others I mean this team would not even be in the position to at least have an opportunity to win the division or get into the postseason it's been really fun to watch as you said going back to spring training nobody could have predicted this you would have thought the Braves were just going to slug their way you know to another postseason appearance that has not been the case it's all been built on this pitching stat but that's pretty pretty wild stat right there with how the brav starting pitching has been able to just limit runs yeah I just want to throw that into context because as someone who also grew up watching the Braves in the 80s where I was not sure if they had 19 starts over the course of the Season or in you know entire half of baseball that might be that good now you're seeing it in Spades by all of these guys Matt Olsson seven game hitting streak he currently going you mentioned this yesterday it's now a seven game extra base hit streak at that a career best as far as extra base hits in consecutive games at seven six doubles and four home runs during that streak Jake as you might imagine slugging about 1100 over this past week or so's worth of games this is the Matt Olsen that folks paid to see and this is a good time for him to go on what I've referred to many many times as a heater that could very much carry this brav lineup in a lot of ways needed obviously in the middle of that order after especially after you lose in Austin Riley you got to have Matt step up there and look it was a rough month of July he slashed 172 257 355 it was brutal in the month of July but he bounces back in August he slashed 265 345 and most importantly a 588 slugging percentage over the month of August look I can live with Matt Olsson hitting 250 even 240 if he's giving you that Slug and he is giving you that that on the extra base hit ability the home runs and doubles driving in runs there there was a stretch there Grant I know you were tracking it for a while but like three rbi's in like a 20 or 30 game stretch it was it was pretty crazy in the desert yeah so to see him bounce back like this I mean the Braves had to have it you knew it was in there for Matt Olson you know he's working hard you know what he can do so it's just great to see all that hard work for him paying off but and need another month of it gotta continue with this lineup to keep it going yeah you're right I mean there was at least a three if not four week stretch for Matt Olson where he was averaging one run batted in per week I don't need to tell you that your cleanup hitter probably needs to drive in more runs than that but I'll do it anyway I got to ask you an important question before we hit our next break and that is who are you going to pick in the pure speed competition we've seen on this road trip it started with Travis darno Marcel Ozuna has now done this twice and Shawn Murphy joined the club first to home scoring from first who are you taking in this dead heat I believe between these three just absolute monsters when it comes to uh overall Sprint speed leaderboards I'm probably taking my one-year-old who just started walking but if I had to pick from from these three I got I think I got to go with Marcel he's a guy once he gets going he's got a little bit of speed on the base pass but uh yeah none of them going to be joining the Olympic track and field team anytime soon no but great to see the effort that is in there all jokes aside I mean this is one of those things where how important is at every 90 feet you're seeing it with plays like that where you know you just you don't expect it from these sources but they're getting it done anyway and the Braves obviously offensively have been clicking a little bit more lately certainly clicked in the Minnesota series and if clicked the first couple of nights at least to put up that fight against the Phillies would have loved more in game one but got plenty in game two to pick up the 72 Victory and of course with the bullpen back to full strength that was something that helped out the Braves in this game we'll talk a little bit about that a little bit about Orlando Aria and his place perhaps in Philly's infamy at the moment how exciting that was for him on this night with a multi-home run game that helped the Braves grab this 7-2 Victory and we will get to all of that as the Braves postcast continues prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks Community today you can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks and you can turn $10 into ,000 prize picks is available in more than 30 States across the country including California Texas and Georgia download the prize pick app today use the code locked on MLB for a first deposit match of up to $100 that is code locked on MLB on the prize picks app for that first deposit match of up to $100 pick more pick less it is that easy with prize picks let's talk a little bit about the Braves Bullpen yesterday it didn't seem like they had everything that they needed or everyone that they needed at their disposal they did on this night though uh Pierce Johnson came in and tossed the seventh inning after Ronaldo Lopez he did give up a solo shot to JT Ruto but that second solo home run was all the Phillies got in this game just their two runs Joe jimnez though in the eighth inning man he had to seriously do some work to get out of it in the eighth I'm not sure he's going to be available for game three but uh throwing over 30 pitches and finding a way to keep the Phillies off the board sometimes you just got to grit your teeth and get it done and Joe was able to do that and ultimately you didn't have to burn rice out of glaus that was probably the best part about that eighth inning and Dylan Lee looked mighty good closing it out in the ninth inning but good to see those names and those arms available for the Braves to just go ahead and close this thing out and not even let it get anywhere near as interesting as game one did you hate you have to to go to those guys in a seven to2 game but the situation kind of dictates it with where things have been lately and as we've talked about you got a chance to win a game and you got to win all of them you want to make sure you close that thing down but you know 25 P pitches for Pierce Johnson 32 P pitches for Joe gimnez not ideal maybe wipes those guys out for tomorrow and you do wonder and you do you know you do have some concern it's why Snicker trying to stay away from those guys and to on Thursday and rely on some others you you have to be worried about them maybe getting tired a little bit with all they've had a pitch here lately and then having to throw a lot of pitches in this one Johnson it just looked like he did not have that curveball command him and I thought was fine I thought Phil sitter just did a good job of of battling him and fouling off some pitches but I thought the stuff looked really good uh but yeah great to see him get out of that jam you did have to get a glacius up but obviously didn't have to get too hot and come into the game and then Dylan Lee being able to close things out so again you know no matter what the score is if it's even a little bit Clos especially in that ballpark with that lineup you can't take a chance so good to see Snicker go with that group to just close things out yeah and I've talked to a lot of folks around baseball and I'm sure you may have heard this as well I mean it's not quite what Kors field was in its Heyday but Citizens Bank Park is a very hit or friendly environment and you almost have to treat it that way in a lot of different ways I don't think that that necessarily was great to coincide with the Braves maybe trying to reset their Bullpen and give guys a day or snit like to say give them a blow here but you you have to do that every once in a while to make sure the guys are available and the reason that they're able to do what they're able to do in the postseason obviously is that you have the travel days the off days that are built in to those series that allows you to kind of Max your Bullpen out in ways that I'm not sure you can do in the final 30 games or so of the regular season but they're going to probably push the bounds and the boundaries and the limits of that I would imagine in order to do everything they have to do to win the games they need to win to punch their ticket to October as well I still work doing the series that the Braves want to make that move in the division race is not going to get any easier as they have Zack Wheeler and Aron NOA waiting for him in the next two games Braves will be throwing Max freed in game three we'll talk about that in a moment against Zack Wheeler and Spencer schellenbach is lined up for the finale I wanted to look a little bit at the wild card yesterday I realized we promised to talk about it and didn't Mets a weekend series with the white socks that's quite a nice gift as a bra are having to go toe-to-toe with the Phillies in this division but how about the Chicago Cubs all of a sudden Jake this is a club that's kind of pushing its way into the conversation with about 30 games to play and could be no pun intended a wild card in this whole Wild Card discussion for the month of September yeah really interesting there as you look for some other teams that maybe are going to push it have some hot streaks down the stretch uh here but the Cubs obviously playing really good baseball really good team over there uh so they're getting hot at the right time the Mets too had a had a big win a big Series win against the Diamondbacks earlier this week and now they get to face the white sock so again we've talked about it a lot of focus on the division a lot of focus on this Philly series but I say it again they're closer to being out of the postseason then they are to winning the division you got to focus on that too and make sure that you you know win all the games you can to try to create that separation there yeah I mean you focus on winning each day obviously winning each series that goes with it but as far as the focus on how you get into the postseason I've been saying this for a while but by whatever means necessary if you can make a run at the division great if not I mean keep playing winning base ball something good should happen for this club down the stretch but they've got to make sure that they are finding that consistency and it would appear that after a long time a lot of waiting that the offense has shown a lot more signs here in the recent week and a half two weeks now of being capable of putting up enough runs to give this pitching staff a chance to do what it's done all season long if they can maintain that the Braves have themselves a pretty good mix there pretty good recipe for success as of now back to a five-game deficit in the National League East we talked about that Braves looking to you're no worse than a series split in Philadelphia that may not sound like shooting for the moon as far as it's concerned but Jake at the very worst you know that's that's your scenario right there but the Braves obviously would like to figure out a way to win this series though they did put themselves behind the eight ball so to speak by dropping that opener and have now evened things up at least and found the answer they needed to in game two like I said coming in I think to get back in the division you have to win this series but if we're just like I talked about last night just taking a step back and saying you know this team just trying to get into the postseason play good baseball you're going on the road to Philadelphia this time of year obviously coming away with a series split is is probably a good scenario and situation as well but just where the Braves are if you are trying to get in that Vision you got to win but because of the hole they put themselves in now you got to win three in a row and you got some really good pitchers in the next two games you're gonna have to face yeah and obviously with the split all that does is just rip four days off the calendar which doesn't really help you out as far as the division is concerned but you don't want to let your momentum take a step back by losing a series either so the Braves will look to keep that from happening they did however clinch the series excuse me the season series against the Phillies which is another Oddity in this roller coaster ride the Braves playing so well against teams that are well over 500 and struggling with other clubs that you'd feel like they should be able to handle like the Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox in very frustrating fashion Max Reed will get the ball in game three to try to get the job done for Atlanta seven Innings of two-run ball against Philadelphia last home stand five innings in a very weird start against Minnesota where he had to sit through a nearly 90-minute rain delay between his first and Final Four Innings of work against the Minnesota Twins but for Max freed I think you're just looking for what the Braves rotation has been doing for going on about three weeks now another start in which you just don't allow much to the opponents give your offense a chance to do its work and hope the bullpen can slam the door that's been the recipe for success for this Braves team and it's working pretty well here over the last couple of weeks or more certainly want to see that for Max freed again who last couple of starts looks more like himself back on track obviously the last one had that big rain delay in there huge four Innings from him coming back from that didn't have to throw a lot of pitches but obviously with that big rain delay you weren't going to push him hopefully there's no side effects or lingering effects from that would really imagine that there would be looked really good coming back after that rain delay uh but hopefully he can get back and and go deep into this ball game and like you said just do with this pitching staff has done and go six seven Innings two ear or less give your offense a chance to win the game you'd love to have that Max free is 8-7 on the year 350 erra as he meets Zack Wheeler in game three of this four game series wheeler 12-6 274 I know we talked a lot about Chris sales sa young credentials and I do think he's the front runner but if there is somebody who's kind of trying to close some distance between the two of them and a strong September would would would make his cause a little bit stronger as well Zack Wheeler has been one of the best pitchers in the National League this year as well Braves could help their teammate out here by going getting after Zack Wheeler a little bit and kind of ruining uh numbers but Zack Wheeler obviously very good the br's very familiar with him as you've mentioned they don't seem to miss him whenever these series come along but this offense has been good especially on this road trip after that stretch of nine games and a 13 game stretch of them only scoring three runs or less you now have five games in a row where they've scored at least five or four runs so you want to see that continue but it's obviously going to be put to the test against Zack Wheeler very good pitcher as you mentioned he's he's the main one in my opinion right now that will be pressing Chris S for that NL Young Award so would love for the Braves off to get after him and help chrisell out a little bit yeah and what a terrific signing he's been overall for the Phillies I know they reup him and and had him stick around I was one of the people that kind of looked at the signing initially when he joined the Phillies and thought hm I love the stuff but is he going to be the front of the rotation starter the answer is yes shut up next question he has been that good so 12- six on the year he faces free to do eight and seven for Atlanta and game three has a 7:15 p.m. eastern time first pitch at Citizens Bank Park that is our time here on the Braves postcast we appreciate you riding along with us once again make sure you subscribe to lockon sports Atlanta on YouTube leave us those likes and comments share the show with a friend and subscribe to lock on Braves wherever you get your podcast once again the Braves get back in the wind column behind Ronaldo Lopez they look to do the same behind Max freed on Saturday for Jake masterani I'm Grant McCauley we will catch you after that game and until then so long everyone