After a rare clunker from Chris Sale, the Atlanta Braves will turn to Reynaldo Lopez to try to snap the team’s three-game losing streak on Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif.
Lopez (1-0, 1.64 ERA) struggled with velocity during spring training after missing most of the 2025 season with a shoulder injury. The right-hander, however, has eased any concerns about the shoulder in his first two starts, allowing just two earned runs and seven hits in 11 innings in his team’s wins over Kansas City and Arizona.
Lopez’s fastball was clocked in the 87-88 mph range in spring training, but he has increased that velocity by almost 10 mph in the regular season. The 2024 All-Star told MLB.com one of the reasons for the big difference was that he was working through some mechanical issues during the spring.
“When you’re trying to fix something, you don’t throw as hard. That’s how you get hurt,” Lopez said. “It was rather simple. I think it was the left shoulder and the left hip just opening up a little early. So my focal point was just try and stay closed.”
So far, so good.
Lopez will face an Angels team that has a three-game winning streak and has had his number in the past. Lopez is 0-4 with a 5.79 ERA in 10 career appearances, including four starts, against Los Angeles.
The Angels recorded a 6-2 win in Monday’s series opener, chasing an unusually wild Sale in the fifth inning.
Zach Neto hit Sale’s first pitch of the game for a home run, and Jo Adell clubbed a two-run shot in the fifth to give Los Angeles a 6-1 lead. The Angels also scored three times in the fourth inning, parlaying two walks, two hit batsmen and two singles into three runs. Sale walked Logan O’Hoppe with the bases loaded to force in one run and also hit Yoan Moncada to force in another.
That was more than enough for Los Angeles starter Jose Soriano, who struck out 10 while allowing one run on three hits over eight innings in another dominant performance.
“Yeah, that was pretty insane,” Angels manager Kurt Suzuki said. “That’s a great lineup over there. They’re not punching out this year, and for Sori to come in and do that, it just speaks about the stuff and the execution.”
“It’s some the best stuff you’ll see in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “You hate giving credit to opposing pitchers, but sometimes you have to. That was big-time stuff right there.”
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-1, 6.52 ERA), who has a 5.59 ERA without a decision in two career starts against Atlanta, will start on Tuesday for the Angels.
Kikuchi comes in off a 6-2 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field last Wednesday, when he allowed five earned runs on six hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.
Kikuchi, who also picked up a no-decision in a 6-2 win at Houston on March 27, will make his first home start of the season. The 2025 All-Star was much more effective at Anaheim Stadium last season, compiling a 6-3 record and 2.93 ERA in 16 starts compared with a 1-8 record and 5.04 ERA in 17 road starts.
–Field Level Media
