It’s Toglia Time in Atlanta
Fresh off of a victory to salvage the last of a four-game series with the first-place New York Mets, the Colorado Rockies land in Atlanta to duke it out with the Braves, who start Tuesday just three games back of the Metropolitans.
José Ureña (2-5, 5.98 ERA) saw his teammate Germán Márquez throw his finest start of the season in that 1-0 win in Queens. Hopefully Ureña can channel some of that into success on Tuesday, as he’s coming off one of the single roughest starts in the club’s history.
That start saw the 30-year-old righty shelled for nine earned runs in just 1 1⁄3 innings, so there’s some definite room for improvement in his next outing. He’ll need to earn it, as the Braves have given Ureña trouble in the past – he owns a 6.50 ERA in 73 1⁄3 innings against Atlanta, and hasn’t thrown a quality start against them since 2018.
Atlanta will counter with their ace, Max Fried (12-4, 2.52 ERA). Fried, coming back from a scary concussion, looks like he hasn’t missed any time at all as he’s tossed back-to-back stellar starts. In fact, the 28-year-old right-hander has thrown six straight quality starts and will toe the rubber looking for his seventh on Tuesday.
Fried has faced the Rockies four times in his career (three starts), owning a 2.86 ERA through 22 innings. Interestingly, his toughest of the three starts came in his sole outing at home in which he allowed four earned runs in 5 1⁄3 innings and took the loss. Might history repeat itself tonight?
The big story of Tuesday will of course be the MLB debut of Michael Toglia (No. 11 PuRP). Playing first base and hitting seventh in tonight’s lineup, Rockies fans will be very excited to see the prospect that was selected in the first round of the 2019 Draft. He’ll be joined by returning outfielder Sean Bouchard, who is hitting eighth and playing in left field.
First Pitch: 5:20 PM MDT
TV: AT&T Sports Net Rocky Mountain; MLB.tv
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)
Lineups:
Rockies called up Michael Toglia for his debut in Atlanta and will run out this lineup vs Max Fried and the defending champs tonight:
Grichuk rf
Iglesias ss
Rodgers 2b
Cron dh
Díaz c
Montero 3b
Toglia 1b
Bouchard lf
Hampson cfProbably not how you imagined it in April?
— Nick Groke (@nickgroke) August 30, 2022
Max on the mound. #ForTheA | @MaxFried32 pic.twitter.com/AzuHYfWWdN
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 30, 2022