The Atlanta Braves after an off day yesterday return back home to Turner Field tonight to open a mid week three game Interleague Series with the Cleveland Indians. Atlanta held off St Louis in the final game of a four game series this past weekend to avoid a sweep but still lost the series. Cleveland has five wins in six games heading into tonight's action and has won 9 of 13 overall after dropping six straight. The big news around Braves country has been the injury to Jason Heyward last week so being without the big man in the lead off spot has really hurt the Braves morale to some extent as well as offensive firepower. However other Braves players have picked up some of the slack and so Atlanta will have to become accustomed with the ability to overcome and improvise in Heyward's absence here in last August and heading into September. Wood is 2-2 2.50 ERA on the season for Atlanta but the Rookie is 1-0 with a 1.11 ERA in four August starts. Wood has not allowed more than one run in any of those four August starts and Wood's main goal tonight will be a continuation of those sharp peformances with some one two three innings. Salazar is 1-1 3.52 ERA on the season for Cleveland. Salazar is also in his Rookie Season but has posted 29 K's in 23 Innings Pitched and has only allowed 15 hits in four outings. One of Salazar's main goals tonight with be blocking out the Atlanta home crowd where the Braves own a 44-18 Home Record. The Cleveland Pitching Staff has posted a 1.83 ERA in last six games however and seems primed to bring an strong outing into Turner Field tonight. Swisher is 13 for 43 with three HR's and 10 RBI's in last ten games for the Tribe and always seems to come up with a critical play at Turner Field either on the offensive side or with the glove in the field. Swisher can really be a thorn in Atlanta's side at times and so Swish has to be a priority out on Wood's checklist. Ideally Atlanta would love to grab an early lead, hopefully expanding on it in the middle innings and bring in the Bullpen Closers to nail it down as this strategy is the Braves bread and butter. Look to see if Upton, Freeman, or McCann can peg a solo or two run HR in the early innings tonight that allows that strategy to mature. Weather should not be an issue tonight for the 7:10 PM EST start time as finally the Southeast is drying out after weeks of severe summer rains. Atlanta Manager Fredi Gonzalez stated the main goal for Atlanta now to the end of the regular season was to win series and now Braves must delete the past few games out of the memory bank and carry on with the big man Heyward out of action. Source: ESPN MLB Preview.
