Braves Hope For Early Runs in Schwellenbach's Debut Wednesday Versus Nationals

The Atlanta Braves have yet to score a run earlier than the seventh inning in this Washington Nationals series

Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna (20) celebrates after a home run against the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning at Truist Park. / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves would love to take a lead in this four-game series. 

Atlanta avenged the series-opening loss with a win last night, with Max Fried going full Maximus - eight scoreless innings, offsetting his seven hits and a walk with a pick-off and four double plays. It was Atlanta’s league-leading ninth shutout of the season, evening the series at one game each.  

But after not putting up any runs until the 7th inning in both of the first two games, some early scoring would be helpful to settle down prospect Spencer Schwellenbach, called up today for his major league debut. He’ll face off against lefty MacKenzie Gore (3-4, 3.04 ERA) in this one. 

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals on Wednesday, May 29th 

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

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

Schwellenbach’s 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA in his first eight starts of the year, six coming in High-A with the Rome Emperors. He’ll need to be ready to go from the first pitch - Nationals leadoff man CJ Abrams is 4-8 in this series with a homer and a double.   

Here's the Nationals lineup:

SS CJ Abrams
RF Lane Thomas
DH Jesse Winker
2B Luis García Jr.
C Keibert Ruiz
LF Eddie Rosario
3B Nick Senzel
1B Joey Gallo
CF Jacob Young

Gore hasn’t pitched poorly this season, evidenced by his 3.04 ERA, but he has four losses already because Washington’s failed to score in support of him - three of those losses saw him allow just two runs or less, but the team’s scoring only 3.78 runs in his games so far this season. 

Gore’s done a pretty decent job against Atlanta so far in his career, going 1-1 across his three starts, but the Braves tagged him for five runs in Truist Park last summer en route to a 6-4 victory. Marcell Ozuna was the main culprit there, hitting a two-run homer in the 2nd inning before Ronald Acuña  Jr. blew it open with a two-run homer of his own.  

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals on Wednesday, May 29th 

Game three is scheduled for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch. It’s being broadcast on Bally Sports South and MASN 2, with those out-of-market having the game on MLB.tv. 

If you’d rather just listen, the Nationals radio broadcast is available on 106.7 The Fan and DC 87.7 while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country. Both teams have Spanish language broadcasts today, with Atlanta’s on La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM and Washington’s on La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM.