Holmes Faces Paddack as Braves Vs Reds Opens Friday
braves vs reds puts Grant Holmes against Chris Paddack on Friday, May 29, at Great American Ball Park, with Atlanta taking on a Cincinnati staff that has not steadied itself. Holmes brings a 3.78 ERA, while Paddack enters with a 6.86 ERA and has yet to record a first victory.
Grant Holmes At Great American Ball Park
Holmes has been sharper in his last two starts. He struck out 10 hitters and walked two against the Nationals, even while allowing two solo home runs on six hits. Before that, he worked 6.0 scoreless innings against the Red Sox, with four strikeouts and one walk.
That run gives Atlanta a more workable starting point than the season line alone suggests. Holmes owns a 4.17 xERA and a 44.4 percent hard-hit rate, so the profile is still mixed, but the recent results have been better than the surface number.
Chris Paddack And The Reds
Paddack comes in with a 4.32 xERA and a 33.7 percent chase rate, but the ERA has not matched the underlying figure. He has yet to post a win, and Atlanta is sending its offense into a matchup with the back end of Cincinnati's rotation after a series against the Red Sox in which the bats went crazy twice and were completely silent once.
The Braves also have a small but useful edge in the matchup history. No one on the Reds has more than seven at-bats against Holmes, and six of the nine hitters who have faced him own an average of.333 or better. TJ Friedl has handled him best, with two home runs in four at-bats.
Yastrzemski Against Paddack
On the other side, Mike Yastrzemski has 25 at-bats against Paddack, with three home runs, a.400 average and a 1.324 OPS. No other Braves player has more than 11 at-bats against him, and Smith is 2-for-11 with a.182 average in the matchup.
The game is set for 6:40 pm EDT on Friday, May 29, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Atlanta's offense arrives with a track record of scoring in bursts, and the first inning of this one will already tell plenty about whether Holmes can keep the game where the Braves want it.
