Hosting the Braves may 7

The Biscuits took four of five from the Wahoos and now have the division leader coming to visit this week. From a light hitting defense with a stout bullpen on the last homestand, the Skitz return home swinging a hot bat and with starting pitchers coming off of great performances. 

HOT BISCUIT

Mahtook

Mikie Mahtook in his last 27 plate appearances is hitting .409 and has really been turning into an excellent defensive right fielder.

 

STRONG STARTERS
The past week has Buschmann, Kelly and Thompson among the Rays top pitchers, allowing just three earned runs in their past 27 IP combined.

And while some Biscuit hurlers are definitely hot, others are assuredly cold.
Enny Romero, Zack Quate, Braulio Lara, Victor Mateo and Belatti all put together a terrible road trip, and be they starters or relievers they need to tighten up for the next two or three series to avoid being sent down.


INJURED -
Ty Morrison will have season ending Tommy John surgery. Bummer.

FREE BASEBALL!

Not extra innings, from the top of the first its free baseball for Biscuit fans. The City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Biscuits teamed up to fulfill the suggestion put forth by the late Jim Burby. Burbs said that since the city uses tax money to upkeep the park, citizens should be given a ticket for one game a year.

Not too far from that, the Skitz are opening the doors for those who signed up, all it took was saying you had never been to a game.

Its a great way to give back, and an even better way to fill out the crowd on a tuesday night!

BISCUITS VS BRAVES

A very good series is on tap between two very good teams. The Braves are coming off of back-to-back shutouts of the Tn Smokies. Although the Biscuits have scored alot more runs this year than the Braves, the Ms nine have the lead in the win column and the top spot in the division.


BRAVES SCOUTING REPORT
Rotation:
Braves pitchers Lee, Wood, Schlosser, Graham, Northcraft, Martin and Moran have all have made starts for the Mbraves.

SP Lee threw a five inning complete game shutout of the Smokies on May 1st.
SP Alex Wood has 38 K in 31 innings and a miniscule ERA of 0.58
SP Gus Schlosser leads the Braves staff with 12 free passes.
SP JR Graham has 25 K in 28 Innings pitched.
SP Northcraft has 26 K in 26 IP and been stingy with the baserunners, only 15 hits allowed to a WHIP of 0.88, tops among Ms starters.

Marrero

Christian Marrero and Shawn McGill have both been hitting well in the past week, with OPS over 1.100  
Micheal Lee, Tuesdays starter, threw five shutout innings his last time out, striking out six.

Jaime Pedroza and Dan Brewer have been struggling for the Mbraves, just four hits combined over the past seven days.

Speedy Mycal Jones already has double digit steals and has yet to be caught on the basepaths this year.

Closer Mark Lamm has been hittable lately, giving up three hits including a homer in his past two games.

Bethancourt

Russell

Kyle Russel leads the team in BABIP, the Houston native has a solid .318 batting average as well.

Prospect catcher Christian Bethancourt spent a week on the DL and will split time with the other backstops on the team, McGill and Schlehuber.

 WHAT TO LOOK FOR

The Biscuits need to find ways to get on base against the tough braves pitchers. Any runners Mgm can get on base, they need to push around to score. Close games are probably good for the home team, the Skitz pitchers are the key to this series. It could be a group of hard fought games, and the team that wins the series has the edge in the standings for the first half, and probably becomes the team to beat in the SL South division.

I look for Kyeong Kang to get more time in at DH, sparking the offense. Kevin Kiermaier, G-man and Cameron Sietzer should enjoy the home cooking - oh and that Mahtook guy too!