TLDR: Atlanta rolls into the Bronx on a 7-game heater with the hottest 37-year-old arm in baseball on the mound. New York is trying to hang on with half its middle of the order in street clothes.
The Braves have won 5 straight and 7 of their last 7 overall, and Saturday's series opener at Yankee Stadium hands the ball to the guy most responsible for it. Chris Sale (12-6, 2.08 ERA) faces Gerrit Cole (5-5, 3.42 ERA) at 3:05 PM ET, with Atlanta trying to keep the roll going against a Yankees team that's lost 3 of its last 5.
Chris Sale
(12-9)·2.20 ERA
Jul 29 @ Mets
W
6.0IP
0ER
9K
0BB
94P
08/08 Lineup
Gerrit Cole
(7-6)·3.11 ERA
Aug 2 @ Cubs
W
5.2IP
1ER
5K
3BB
99P
08/08 Lineup
New York is missing a staggering chunk of its lineup. Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Rodon are all on the injured list, and the offense has shown it in flashes — a 13-run outburst against St. Louis sandwiched between a shutout loss and a 1-3 defeat. Cole's last time out was solid (5.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 K against the Cubs), but he's needed to be near-perfect with so little thunder behind him.
Atlanta's own health picture isn't clean either. The bullpen is running thin with Robert Suarez, Reynaldo Lopez and Joe Jimenez all out, and the rotation behind Sale is without Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach. None of that has slowed the offense, which has scored at least 4 runs in every game during the current streak.
Sale at 37 is putting together one of the best age-37 seasons any pitcher has had in decades, and he's coming off a start where he didn't allow a run in 6 innings against the Mets. That kind of form against a Yankees lineup missing 4 regulars is about as favorable a matchup as a starter gets in August.
Yankee Stadium's short porch has bailed out plenty of banged-up lineups before, and Cole's stuff is still good enough to keep this competitive on paper. But Atlanta is playing its best baseball of the season at the worst possible time for a Yankees team trying to piece together enough offense to matter.
Braves 4, Yankees 5: Final Score & Odds Recap — Sale's Historic Season Meets Yankees' Depleted Lineup
