The top two teams in the National League East face off on the diamond Friday when the Atlanta Braves (17-8. 1st NL East) pay a visit to the Big Apple and Citi Field to play the New York Mets (14-11, 2nd NL East). Atlanta defeated the Miami Marlins 6-4 on Wednesday and has won three straight to extend its lead in the NL East to three games. New York was defeated by Washington 4-1 and has lost four straight but remains second two games ahead of Miami in the NL East and three behind Atlanta. Atlanta will play without four pitchers as well as position players Carson Kelly and Kyle Lewis. New York will play without 11 pitchers and position players Tim Locastro and Omar Narvaez.
The Atlanta Braves have the eighth best team batting average in baseball .259, with the second best slugging percentage at .459 and the fifth best on base percentage at .340. Atlanta has scored the fifth most runs with 130. Matt Olson is the team leader in home runs with seven and is second in RBI with 21, while Ozzie Albies is the leader in RBI with 23 and is tied for first with Olson in home runs with seven. Atlanta has had plenty of power at the plate with 45 doubles, three triples and 40 home runs in 25 games.
Atlanta is also performing very well on the mound as the Braves have the fourth best team ERA at 3.38 and are 10th in WHIP at 1.24. Atlanta's starting rotation has 10 Quality Starts in 25 games which is seventh and the pitching staff is holding opposing hitters to an average of .235 which is 11th. Spe ncer Strider is the leader in strikeouts with 49, in ERA for starters at 1.80 and in wins with three. Max Fried gets the nod on the mound Friday for Atlanta. This season the left hander is 1-0 with an ERA of 0.60 and 11 strikeouts