Last night’s hero and omnipotent WPA deity Austin Riley takes a spot on the bench today, giving the Braves a Spiderman-pointing-at-Spiderman-meme-esque corner outfield of Matt Joyce and Nick Markakis. It was probably a common assumption that Josh Donaldson would drop his suspension appeal today and get a breather in this game, but apparently that’s not the case, and he’s back in there hitting cleanup. Will there be more Musgrove-Donaldson fireworks? Who knows, But he’s in there.
This will be Joyce’s fourth start in left field this year, but the first time the Braves have used this defensive arrangement or lineup.