My one-plus-year-old has the word “hop” in her vocabulary. She uses it to describe bunnies we see when out on walks, but she also uses it to narrate her as she’s toddling along. I’d guess that at least half the time she’s ambling somewhere, it’s followed by her chanting, “Hop hop hop.” On that note, Austin Riley has hopped back into the two-hole:
The rest of the lineup is what it is — and is a new lineup for Atlanta given the return of Ronald Acuña Jr.
Spencer Strider and the Braves will have to deal with the usual cast of Phillies suspects:
Probably the main note of interest on the Phillies’ side is that Alec Bohm is hitting fifth, something he’s yet to do this season — the same goes for J.T. Realmuto hitting eighth as a result. So, it’s a weirdly a new lineup for the Phillies, but this is their most common starting nine thus far, used in 14 games so far.
Boy, these two lineups have faced tonight’s starters a lot. Everyone in the Atlanta lineup has faced Suarez at least once save for Nick Allen, and everyone save for Allen, Eli White, and Sean Murphy have faced him in at least 20 PAs. They’ve also had fairly decent success, except for Harris and White — a collective .330 wOBA and .320 xwOBA. Acuña has a .414 xwOBA against Suarez in his career; Riley has a .455 wOBA on a .375 xwOBA.
As mentioned in the preview, Strider has dominated the Phillies in the regular season, but not so much in the postseason. He’s faced everyone in tonight’s lineup but Max Kepler at least 20 times. Still, in total, he’s been a nightmare for Bryson Stott, Bohm, and Realmuto, while Bryce Harper and Brandon Marsh have crushed him. It adds up to a collective .281 wOBA and .306 xwOBA, but Strider has some work to do to get back to where he was when he was spinning the Phils into the ground.