Tonight at 7:10 p.m. ET, the Atlanta Braves (17-9) and Miami Marlins (13-14) take the field at Marlins Park in Miami for the third and final game of their three-game set. The game can be live streamed for free here.Atlanta fans can hear all of the action on WCNN 680 while Miami fans can do the same on WAQI 780.
Atlanta looks to avoid a three-game sweep after dropping the first two games of this brief one series road trip in Florida while Miami looks to complete the sweep and go 3-0 to start a nine-game homestand.
Ervin Santana (3-0, 1.90 ERA) takes the mound for Atlanta while Henderson Alvarez (1-2, 2.73 ERA) toes the rubber for Miami.
The Marlins scored nine runs in each of their wins with a 9-0 victory over the Braves Tuesday and a 9-3 triumph on Wednesday.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez knows how much of a threat Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton can be as he managed him when he first came to the big leagues. After a homer Tuesday and double Wednesday, Gonzalez knows it's in his team's best interest to try to stop him in order to avoid being swept for the first time this season.
"[Stanton] is a guy you're going to have to get through it with him," Gonzalez said via MLB.com. "You don't want to just put him on. You want to make pitches and make him make outs, because the guy behind him [Casey McGehee] is swinging a pretty good bat."
Stanton is hitting .269 this season with eight homers and a National League-best 31 RBIs.
Atlanta has a solid outfielder of their own in Justin Upton, who hit .326 in April with eight homers and 18 RBIs. Upton ranks third in the majors with a .641 slugging percentage and 1.041 OPS.
The Marlins are confident that their youthful starting pitching will continue to carry them through the season and that Alvarez will lead them to a series sweep.
"I think our starting pitching has been solid all the way around," manager Mike Redmond told MLB.com. "We talk about those young guys. We'll see how those guys continue to develop. The stuff is there. Every start for them, they're learning. It's a matter of making adjustments and learning from mistakes."
The Marlins and Braves both boast speedsters as Adeiny Hechavarria and Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons are tied atop the league's leaderboard with three triples each.
The Braves look to avoid a sweep while the Marlins try to be the first team to take every game in a series against them when the teams take the field this afternoon at Marlins Park in Miami.
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