Giants vs. Braves Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Tuesday, July 2

Reed Wallach | Jul 2, 2024

Jun 30, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants center fielder Heliot Ramos (17) smiles after hitting a double against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves will look to keep pace in the NL playoff picture while keeping another team out of it in the Giants.

The Giants had a successful trip to Los Angeles against the vaunted Dodgers, can the team keep it going against the Braves? The team will hope that rookie Hayden Birdsong can improve on his shaky first outing, but I'm banking on some optimism in his shaky start.

Keep reading to find out why I'm backing the Giants as big underdogs in Atlanta.

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Giants vs. Braves Odds, Run Line and Total 

Run Line

• Giants: -1.5 (-118)
• Braves: +1.5 (-102)

Moneyline

• Giants: +168
• Braves: -200

Total: 8.5 (Over 100/Under -122)

Giants vs. Braves Probable Pitchers

• Giants: Hayden Birdsong (0-0, 5.79 ERA)
• Braves: Raynaldo Lopez (6-2, 1.70 ERA)

Giants vs. Braves How to Watch

• Date: Monday, July 1
• Time: 9:40 p.m. EST
• Venue: Truist Park
• How to watch (TV): Bally Sports South, NBC Sports-Bay Area
• Giants Record: 41-44
• Braves Record: 46-36

Giants vs. Braves Key Players to Watch

San Francisco Giants

Heliot Ramos: Ramos appears to finally have a place to stay in the big leagues after going back and forth between the minor leagues in the prior two seasons. Ramos hit .304 in the month of June across 27 starts with eight home runs and 24 RBI’s, giving some life to the Giants mediocre lineup. 

Atlanta Braves

Marcell Ozuna: Enjoying a career year, the 33-year-old Ozuna is in shouting distance of a triple crown bid. He is hitting .300 with 21 home runs and 67 RBI’s as he has done his best to mitigate the loss of Ronald Acuna Jr. in the middle of the Atlanta lineup. While the Braves offense has fallen off as a whole, Ozuna has produced at a high level, which has helped keep Atlanta firmly in the postseason mix. 

Giants vs. Braves Prediction and Pick

San Francisco will start Hayden Birdsong for the second time. While he struggled in his first start, he showcased some serious velocity (85th percentile fastball velocity) and generated swings and misses. 

Against a free-swinging Braves team, Birdsong may be in line to put together a strong start with low expectations. Meanwhile, I’m interested in fading Reynaldo Lopez, who has a 1.70 ERA but an xERA of 3.98. 

Lopez has been outperforming expectations all season long, but I expect regression to settle in as the season goes on. He still has an above average walk rate of more than three batters per nine innings and has been limited to about five innings per start this season. 

With shaky control, Lopez will put a ton of pressure on a below average Braves bullpen, and I’ll side with the Giants group of relievers to do a better job backing up Birdsong and outperform this price.

Lastly, the Giants have been doing better than the Braves at the plate. San Francisco placed 12th in OPS last month while Atlanta was 17th in the same metric. 

I’ll take the big underdog in San Francisco. 

PICK: Braves ML (+168)

---

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.