Braves Talk - August 3

Bill Shanks talks about the final game of the series against the Mets

Series Win: The Braves have won the first three games of this four-game set to take the series…Atlanta has won three of their first four series this season…In overall series play last season, the Braves went 32-12-9, and the club’s 12 series losses were tied with the Yankees and Dodgers for the second fewest in baseball…Only Houston (10) had fewer.

Winning Streak: After starting the season 2-3, the Braves have won five consecutive games to take over sole possession of first place from Miami in the N.L. East…The Marlins, despite playing just three games, have a .667 winning percentage, which was tied with the Braves entering play today…Miami is not scheduled to resume play until Tuesday, August 4 in Baltimore…Dating to the beginning of the 2018 season, this is the Braves 10 winning streak of five or more games…They had four such streaks last season, including winning nine consecutive games from August 28-September 7…The five-game winning streak is the longest by any National League team this season.

Weekend Play: The Braves won all three games this weekend, and took two-of-three games from the Mets in New York last weekend, improving to 5-1 in weekend play this season…The Braves went 54-26 (.675) in Friday, Saturday and Sunday games last season, the best record in the National League.

First to Score: Atlanta has scored first in nine of the 10 games played this season, with the exception being the Opening Day shutout against the Mets…The Braves are 7-2 when scoring first this season.

Kyle Wright: Today marked his 13 career appearance, including his sixth start, and was the first scoreless start of his career…He had allowed eight runs, earned, in 4.2 career innings against the Mets before today (one start).

Bullpen/Matzek: Atlanta’s bullpen earned its majors-most sixth win of the season, with Tyler Matzek earning his first win in the majors since April 27, 2015…Matzek pitched a career-high 2.0 innings in relief and has yet to allow a run in four appearances since joining the Braves roster.