The Braves look to end a two-game losing streak Friday against the Padres

After splitting a four-game series in Arizona, the Atlanta Braves will make their final stop before the All-Star break on Friday night when they open a three-game series against the San Diego Padres. The Braves will look to snap a two-game losing streak behind rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach. The Padres will counter with right-hander Randy Vasquez.

Atlanta lost three of four games to the Padres at Truist Park, one of its worst games of the season. The Braves were outscored 18-10 in that series. They avoided a sweep when Chris Sale outscored Vasquez in the series finale to win 3-0.

The Braves have used a number of pitchers to try to fill the fifth spot in the rotation, but appear to have settled on Schwellenbach, who will make his eighth start of the season since moving up from Double-A to the major leagues. Schwellenbach is coming off one of the best starts of his young career, where he held the Phillies to just one run in six innings, along with six strikeouts. It’s no surprise that Schwellenbach struggled to face a third-round lineup, but he’s shown plenty of promise over his first seven starts and has done a pretty good job of rounding out the rotation.

Vasquez allowed 10 hits and three runs in six innings in his last game against the Braves in May. He has struggled against lefties, but he is actually in a stretch where he has allowed just three earned runs in his last three starts (15 ¹⁄₃ sleeves).

After scoring five or more runs in six straight games, the Braves’ offense fell flat in a 1-0 loss Thursday night to close out the series against the Diamondbacks. Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna accounted for four of Atlanta’s five hits in the loss. Ozuna enters Friday leading the National League with 75 RBIs. That’s tied for the most RBIs by a Braves player since 1966 for the most RBIs before the All-Star break. Andruw Jones had 75 RBIs in 2006, so Ozuna has three games to break that record.

Eddie Rosario returned to the Braves to start the road trip after being released by Washington and made an immediate impact with a game-ending single in Monday’s comeback victory over the Diamondbacks. However, he has just 2 hits in 14 at-bats in the series and has a wRC+ of 50 for the season.

Friday’s game is scheduled for another late start at 9:40 p.m. ET and can be seen on Bally Sports Southeast.

Game Information

Game date/time: Friday, July 12, 9:40 p.m. ET

Location: Petco Park, San Diego, California

TV: Bally Sports South East

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM