Braves have to deal with Dodgers, Grandal (Jul 27, 2018)
ATLANTA -- The Los Angeles Dodgers have been riding the long ball all season, and it has helped them hold down first place in the National League West. Catcher Yasmani Grandal has been in the middle of the surge.
Grandal, who hit his 17th home run Friday night, has been on fire during July. He is batting .396 (23-for-58) in 19 games with 11 runs, four doubles, one triple, six home runs and 14 RBIs. He leads the majors in on-base percentage and OPS this month.
For the season, Grandal leads big-league catchers in home runs (17) and RBIs (52), and is second in runs (45), walks (42), OPS (.855) and on-base percentage (.497).
It has been a strong rebound season for Grandal, who was displaced by Austin Barnes last season. Grandal was dealing with a lot of stress and was flying back and forth to visit his wife, who was undergoing a high-risk pregnancy.
Grandal's wife and baby boy are both healthy these days, and now that his life has calmed down, his offense has returned.
"There was a lot of things going on on the outside that, when I look back at last year, I think I did a pretty good job just handling what was going on all around me, plus coming in every day and pretty much giving 100 percent," Grandal said.
Grandal is expected to be behind the plate again on Saturday when the Dodgers send former Braves pitcher Alex Wood (6-5, 3.87 ERA) against Atlanta's Max Fried (1-3, 3.92), a matchup of two left-handers.
Losing Wood has been a sore point for Atlanta fans since the club traded the University of Georgia product to Los Angeles for washout Hector Olivera in 2015.
Wood got off to a slow start, but he has turned it around the last two months. In his last seven starts, Wood is 5-0. He worked six innings and allowed two runs in his most recent start against Milwaukee on July 22.
Wood is 1-3 with a 6.05 ERA in four career starts against Atlanta, and he was the losing pitcher in a June 9 start against the Braves this season, when he gave up nine hits and four runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings.
Fried has bounced up and down with Triple-A Gwinnett, depending on when the team needed an emergency starter. This will be his fourth start of the season with the Braves.
Fried fired 6 2/3 shutout innings against St. Louis on June 30 and was given another start on July 5 but was tagged for four runs in three innings against Milwaukee and left the game early with a finger blister. That caused him to be placed on the disabled list.
He has made rehab appearances with Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett before being activated.
Fried has never faced the Dodgers.
The Braves have two other pitchers on the disabled list. Starter Mike Soroka is out with a sore shoulder and is not expected to return this season. Reliever Arodys Vizcaino is also dealing with shoulder issues but is expected to return before the season ends.
"I don't see Viz missing the year," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "I think at some point -- because he's a one-inning guy -- we can get him back. I say that, but until we get him throwing, we don't know."
