The surging Atlanta Braves host the slumping Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday night in the second of a three-game series. The game between the division rivals is scheduled to start at 7:10 PM ET.
The baseball odds list the Atlanta Braves as favorites at -130 and the Phillies at +110. The total is 7.5 runs.
The Atlanta Braves (29-22, 17-6 home) were in last place in the NL East as recently as May 17. Since then, they have made up seven games in the division and are now in first place. Atlanta hasn’t held first place in the NL East this late in a season since they won the division in 2005.
Veteran third baseman Chipper Jones continued to play well against Philadelphia Monday night. Jones, a career .340 hitter against Philadelphia, hit a two-run homer in the first inning to bring his home run total against the Phillies to 44. He has more homers against Philadelphia than any other team.
Troy Glaus also played well for Atlanta Monday, capping off a solid month for the first baseman. He hit a three-run home run in the seventh inning. He improved his batting average to .330 for May after hitting .194 in April.
After Monday’s loss, the Philadelphia Philles (28-22, 15-12 away) moved out of first place for the first time since May 1. They have now lost 9 of their last 13 and have been shut out in 5 of their last 8 games.
Former league MVP Ryan Howard will look to break out of his slump Tuesday night. The first baseman is 4 for 31 (.129) in his last nine games.
The pitching match up features Cole Hamels (5-3, 3.82 ERA) for Philadelphia and Tim Hudson (5-1, 2.24 ERA) for Atlanta. Since losing his first two outings versus Atlanta, Hamels is 8-2 with a 3.70 ERA in 13 starts. Hudson is 0-5 with a 4.01 ERA in his last nine starts versus Philadelphia, as Atlanta has backed him with an average of only 1.70 runs of support. His only loss of the season came against Philadelphia on April 21 when Atlanta’s offense failed to score a single run.
