Velasquez scheduled to start for Philadelphia against Atlanta

ESPN logo
Saturday, May 8, 2021

Philadelphia Phillies (18-15, first in the NL East) vs. Atlanta Braves (15-17, fourth in the NL East)

Atlanta; Saturday, 7:20 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Phillies: Vince Velasquez (1-0, 4.91 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, 24 strikeouts) Braves: Ian Anderson (2-1, 3.27 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 36 strikeouts)

LINE: Braves -176, Phillies +153; over/under is 8 1/2 runs

BOTTOM LINE: Atlanta and Philadelphia will square off on Saturday.

The Braves are 8-9 against teams from the NL East. Atlanta has hit 45 combined home runs this season, most in the National League. Ronald Acuna Jr. leads the club with 10 homers.

The Phillies are 8-8 against NL East Division teams. Philadelphia is slugging .382 as a unit. Bryce Harper leads the team with a slugging percentage of .598.

The Phillies won the last meeting 12-2. Zach Eflin earned his second victory and Odubel Herrera went 2-for-4 with a home run and four RBI for Philadelphia. Charlie Morton registered his second loss for Atlanta.

TOP PERFORMERS: Acuna Jr. leads the Braves with 10 home runs and has 22 RBI.

Rhys Hoskins leads the Phillies with eight home runs and has 18 RBI.

LAST 10 GAMES: Braves: 5-5, .249 batting average, 4.97 ERA, outscored by seven runs

Phillies: 7-3, .225 batting average, 3.39 ERA, outscored opponents by 15 runs

INJURIES: Braves: Touki Toussaint: (right shoulder), Mike Soroka: (achilles), Chris Martin: (fingers), Ender Inciarte: (hamstring), Guillermo Heredia: (right hamstring), Alex Jackson: (left hamstring), Travis d'Arnaud: (left thumb).

Phillies: JoJo Romero: (left elbow), Seranthony Dominguez: (elbow), Archie Bradley: (left oblique), Roman Quinn: (finger), Matt Joyce: (calf), Ronald Torreyes: (undisclosed).

------

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.