Braves Insert Zack Short, Chadwick Tromp in Lineup for Saturday Versus Padres

The Atlanta Braves are starting to stack up the injury replacements in the bottom of the lineup

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves want to even up the series today. 

The Braves struggled to make contact last night, striking out eighteen times (ten to knuckleballer Matt Waldron) in their 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres in last night’s series opener. 

The Braves are hoping for better results today, sending sinkerballer Bryce Elder (1-1, 4.79) to the mound against veteran Yu Darvish (3-1, 2.43).  

Lineups for the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres on Saturday, May 18th 

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

RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
2B Ozzie Albies
DH Marcell Ozuna
1B Matt Olson
SS Orlando Arcia
CF Michael Harris II
C Chadwick Tromp
LF Jarred Kelenic
3B Zack Short

Austin Riley continues to be held out of the lineup after being removed from Sunday’s game with “left side tightness”, later diagnosed as “inflammation” via MRI. Surprisingly, he’s not even swinging a bat yet, with some doubt being expressed that he’d be back in the lineup by the time Atlanta takes on the Cubs next week. Zack Short will get his fifth consecutive start at third base for Atlanta. As expected, Travis d’Arnaud is also being held out of today’s lineup after being removed from last night’s game with “dizziness”.  He’s reportedly feeling much better, but the team will attempt to avoid using him until at least Monday.

Elder’s sandwiched two decent starts (two earned runs in 5.1 innings against the Cleveland Guardians and New York Mets) with a rough outing against fellow NL West star-laden roster the Los Angeles Dodgers (7 ER in 3.1 innings). His only career outing against the Padres was short-  just 4.1 innings on April 17th of 2022 with two earned runs on three hits and five walks. Recent Padres trade acquisition Luis Arraez is familiar with Elder from his time in the NL East with the Miami Marlins, batting 3-12 with a homer off of Atlanta’s sinkerballer.   

Here's the Padres lineup:

2BLuis Arraez
RF Fernando Tatis Jr.
LF Jurickson Profar
1B Jake Cronenworth
3B Manny Machado
DH Xander Bogaerts
CF Jackson Merrill
C Luis Campusano
SS Ha-Seong Kim

Darvish is having a typical Yu Darvish season, but he’s on a heater recently - the righty hasn’t allowed a run to score in his last three outings, carrying a seventeen-inning scoreless streak into tonight’s contest. The Braves have typically hit him well, however - he’s just 1-3 with a 5.33 ERA over his last five outings against Atlanta. DH Marcell Ozuna is the one to watch here, as he’s batting .316 lifetime with a homer, five RBIs, and a .965 OPS off of Darvish.  

How to Watch the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres on Saturday, May 18th 

This evening’s matchup is slated for a 7:20 PM ET first pitch and is a national broadcast on Fox. 

If you’d rather just listen, the Padres radio broadcast is available on KWFN 97.3 & XEMO 860 while the Atlanta Braves Radio Network has the standard broadcast on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan and affiliates across Braves Country.