The Atlanta Braves will not be making the playoffs for the first time since 2017, but they will bring a league-best eight-game winning streak into Monday's three-game home series against the Washington Nationals.
The Braves (73-83) beat the Detroit Tigers 6-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep in Atlanta's final road series of the year.
The Nationals (64-92) are coming off a 3-2 win over the New York Mets on Sunday. Washington won the last two games of the three-game series to put the Mets' playoff hopes in jeopardy.
"I'm excited to get to the next series and, hopefully, win the series right there," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "I'm proud of how the guys have responded here late and how they're playing the game and the enthusiasm and everything. I mean, they're professionals and they're getting after it."
The longtime rivals met last week when the Braves swept a four-game series in Washington. Atlanta leads the season series 7-3.
Atlanta will send Chris Sale (5-5, 2.35 ERA) to the mound to face Washington's MacKenzie Gore (5-14, 4.00) in a battle of left-handers. This is a rematch of the second game of last Tuesday's doubleheader when the two teams played nine scoreless innings before the Braves emerged with a 5-0 win in 10 innings.
Sale pitched eight innings and allowed three hits and no walks with nine strikeouts. Gore worked 5 1/3 innings and allowed two hits and three walks with five strikeouts.
In four starts since returning from a broken rib that caused him to miss 62 games, Sale is 0-1 with a 1.75 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings. He has never beaten the Nationals. In seven career appearances (five starts), he is 0-2 with a 2.56 ERA.
Sale's next strikeout will move him into 32nd place by himself on the all-time list. He is currently tied at 2,564 strikeouts with Tim Keefe, who played in the 1800s. He trails Bob Feller, who has 2,581, and Braves great Warren Spahn with 2,583. Keefe, Feller and Spahn are all in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
"It took him a while to get going, it seemed like," Snitker said after Sale's last start. "Then once he got going, everything started clicking, and he was just strike after strike with everything."
Gore has had to deal with injuries this year, too. He went on the 10-day injured list in late August with left shoulder inflammation and missed a start. Gore has a 1.74 ERA in two starts since his return but has not pitched more than 5 1/3 innings in either of them.
"We're going to be careful," said interim Washington manager Miguel Cairo. "He missed a start, but he's been good. Hopefully, it goes smoothly and he gives us the pitches he needs to throw."
In eight career starts against the Braves, Gore is 3-2 with a 2.85 ERA. He has 41 strikeouts in 41 innings against Atlanta.
During Atlanta's eight-game winning streak, their run differential is plus-40 (61-21). The 61 runs scored is the team's most in any eight-game stretch this season. Seven of the eight victories have come by multiple runs.
Atlanta's last nine-game winning streak came from June 24-July 3, 2023.
--Field Level Media
