There aren’t sweeping changes to the Braves’ lineup for Thursday afternoon’s series finale at the Pittsburgh Pirates.
In fact, the top five hitters in the lineup are exactly the same as from Wednesday’s 3-0 win.
But one non-change is a historic accomplishment. Matt Olson, batting third and playing first base, will appear in his 740th consecutive game for the Braves, tying Dale Murphy’s franchise record for consecutive games played. Since he arrived ahead of the 2022 season, he hasn’t missed a game yet for the Braves.
In terms of changes, Drake Baldwin is back behind the plate after Joey Bart was the hero on Wednesday, paving the way for Dominic Smith to step back into the designated hitter spot and bat sixth in the lineup against Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller (6-6, 5.02 ERA).
The only other personnel change is Jim Jarvis replacing Jorge Mateo at shortstop and the nine-hole in the lineup.
Otherwise, it’s business as usual for the Braves’ batting order.
Five members of the starting lineup have double-digit career at-bats against Keller, who has allowed a .340 career batting average (35-for-103) against current members of the Braves roster.
Matt Olson is 8-for-15 (.533) with a homer, a double and an RBI. Austin Riley is 5-for-12 (.417) with a double, a triple and five of the team’s 13 RBIs off Keller. Ozzie Albies is just 3-for-15 (.200) but two of those hits are of the extra-base variety, a double and a homer. Mauricio Dubón is 6-for-13 (.462) with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs. Michael Harris II is 4-for-15 (.267), the only one in the group without an extra-base hit off Keller.
The Pirates also made minor lineup changes from Wednesday, moving Ryan O’Hearn from first base to DH and restoring Tyler Callihan in the lineup to play first and bat seventh in place of Marcell Ozuna from the Braves.
Rafael Flores Jr. also replaces Henry Davis behind the plate and will bat eighth.
Only one Pirates hitter, Bryan Reynolds, has double-digit at-bats against Braves starter Bryce Elder (5-6, 4.01). He hasn’t had much success against him, though, going 2-for-11 (.182) with two singles, three strikeouts and one walk.
That lack of success kind of applies to the whole Pittsburgh roster as a whole against Elder. They’re a combined 4-for-37 (.108) with one home run, two RBIs, 10 strikeouts, three walks, a .175 on-base percentage and .189 slugging percentage.
On paper, the Braves have had much more success historically against the Pirates starter than the other way around. But Elder hasn’t exactly been in the best form over the last month.
Let’s see if the Braves can win a series and build some momentum with the All-Star Break on the horizon.