Acuña and Riley Out of Lineup for Series Finale Versus Cubs on Wednesday Night

The Atlanta Braves continue to hold out Austin Riley, while Ronald Acuña Jr gets a day off.

Atlanta Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr is getting his first day off of the 2024 season for tonight's series finale against the Chicago Cubs / Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves pitching staff has been absolutely amazing in this series.  

The Braves recorded their second consecutive shutout win over the Chicago Cubs last night, with Chris Sale giving seven lockdown innings and allowing only two hits and no walks to secure the 7-0 victory for Atlanta. It’s the team’s sixth shutout of the season, tied for the most in MLB and the Braves are now the only team with multiple back-to-back shutouts (Atlanta previously shut out the Miami Marlins on April 22nd and 23rd).

The Braves are aiming for a sweep today, sending veteran Charlie Morton (3-0, 3.14) to the bump against righty Javier Assad (3-0, 1.70).  

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, May 15th 

Here's how Atlanta will line up for the contest:

CF Michael Harris II
2B Ozzie Albies
DH Marcell Ozuna
1B Matt Olson
C Travis d’Arnaud
RF Adam Duvall
SS Orlando Arcia
LF Jarred Kelenic
3B Zack Short

Ronald Acuña Jr. gets his first day off of the season. No reason to think it’s anything but a rest day; we’ll know more once the team opens up media availability. Austin Riley continues to sit out after leaving Sunday night’s game with “left side tightness” - a Monday MRI revealed just irritation and he is expected to return sometime this week. Zack Short gets his 3rd consecutive start in Riley’s stead at third base, batting 9th. He is currently 2-6 with four runs, a RBI, four walks, and a stolen base in his ten plate appearances for Atlanta so far. 

Morton is coming off one of his best starts of the season - seven innings with just one run allowed against the New York Mets. He’s made three starts against the Cubs so far in his Braves career, to wildly different extremes: one was seven scoreless innings with no walks and only three hits against nine strikeouts, but the one before and the one after were seven combined innings with eight runs and eight walks. Watch Cody Bellinger in this one - he’s 4-10 with a 1.255 OPS against Morton. 

Here's the Cubs lineup:

LF Mike Tauchman
RF Seiya Suzuki
DH Cody Bellinger
3B Christopher Morel
1B Michael Busch
SS Miles Mastrobuoni
2B Nick Madrigal
CF Pete Crow-Armstrong
C Yan Gomes

Assad has fully converted to starting after a season of bouncing between the rotation and bullpen last year, and it’s worked out rather well for Chicago - they’ve won five of his starts on the year.  

The hope is that the top of Atlanta’s lineup can get some production off of Assad in this one. Ronald Acuña Jr. is 2-3 with a homer and two RBIs off of Assad, while Ozzie Albies is 1-4 with a homer as well. 

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs on Wednesday, May 15th 

This evening’s series finale is slated for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch. Atlanta’s broadcast is on Bally Sports South while the Cubs are on Marquee Sports Network. For those out of market, both are available on MLB.tv.

If you’d rather just listen, the Cubs radio broadcast is available on 670 The Score while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country.