Jair Jurrjens looks to remain undefeated Thursday night when his Atlanta Braves take on the Arizona Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will look to finish a two-game sweep over the Braves and pick up their fifth win in six games.
The Braves are listed as slight favorites at -115 on the money line at betED.
Jurrjens (5-0, 1.66 ERA) has been solid for the Atlanta Braves since returning from the disabled list earlier this season. The right-hander won his fourth straight start Saturday, retiring the first 17 batters he faced in Atlanta’s 5-3 victory over Philadelphia. He hasn’t done nearly that well in his two career starts at Arizona’s Chase Field, but he has a deceiving 2-0 record there. In those two starts, he gave up eight earned runs in 11 innings, but picked up wins because of a combined 21 runs of support from his teammates.
Atlanta (25-20, 11-10 away) will try to bounce back after having its four-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4, 11-inning loss at Arizona in Wednesday’s opener. The Braves held a one-run lead in the top of the 11th inning but couldn’t hold on as they allowed two runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Arizona Diamondbacks (19-23, 12-10 home) have looked good ever since its five-game losing streak ended on May 14. The Diamondbacks have won four of their last five games and have got solid production from Justin Upton. The right fielder is batting .389 with two home runs and four RBIs in his last four games.
Josh Collmenter (2-0, 0.90 ERA) will make his first career start against Atlanta. The rookie right-hander limited Los Angeles to two hits in six innings of a 1-0 victory in what was his first career start.