Martin Prado News

The Atlanta Braves placed Chipper Jones on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a bruised left and recalled catcher J.C. Boscan from Triple-A Gwinnett.

The Braves hope to break out of a slump today but will face Washington's young fireballer, Stephen Strasburg .

When : 7:35 p.m. Friday ; 4:05 p.m. Saturday ; 8:05 p.m. Sunday Batting: Entering Thursday, the Braves had hit only .158 while averaging 1.8 runs per game during a 1-4 stretch.

Since we've bombarded you with almost exclusively bad news here from the Queen City these past few days, let's start with a bit of good news: Martin Prado 's bat is blazing.

MAY 23: Martin Prado #14 of the Atlanta Braves is tagged out at home plate by Ryan Hanigan #29 of the Cincinnati Reds during the game at Great American Ball Park on May 23, 2012 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo probably breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday upon hearing Chipper Jones and Brian McCann were out of the Braves lineup again, Jones due to a leg contusion and McCann because of sickness.

I have been extremely pumped to write Prado's season check up piece, but decided it would be better to start off with Michael Bourn , seeing as how he is the catalyst to the offense and he will be the most talked about player on the team as the season rolls on.

Will Rhymes tags out Atlanta's Martin Prado, who was trying to stretch a single into a double in the sixth inning.

While sitting in the dugout during Saturday's game, INF Jeff Keppinger was struck in the right foot by a foul ball off the bat of Braves LF Martin Prado .

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. Freddie Freeman spent part of his weekend switching between glasses and various contact lenses and trying out assorted eye drops in a somewhat successful effort to alleviate his dry eyes.

Batting : Brian McCann has a .340 average with 15 homers and 31 RBIs in 40 games against the Reds, including a .390 average with seven homers and nine RBIs in his past 12 games against them.

The second contest of the Braves' three-game Interleague set against the Rays on Saturday was supposed to be another step in the farewell journey of Chipper Jones.

With two hits, including a solo home run, Martin Prado registered his sixth consecutive multi-hit game to go with three runs scored, and the Atlanta Braves downed the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-3, in the opener of a three-game interleague set.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - It's not as if the Braves are a bad team at home, it's just that their engines have hummed at a different level on the road during the first quarter of the season.

Giancarlo Stanton's left shoulder was wrapped in ice after Wednesday's game, and the Marlins right fielder wasn't feeling all that good despite his heroics in the 8-4 victory over the Braves.

Beachy has won five straight decisions since losing his first start. He had no walks and six strikeouts and lowered baseball's best ERA from 1.60 to 1.33. The right-hander had two strikeouts in the ninth to cap his first career complete game and Atlanta's first shutout of the season.

When : 7:10 p.m. Friday , 4:10 p.m. Saturday , 1:40 p.m. Sunday . Batting: Martin Prado was 16-for-34 with five doubles and two strikeouts during an eight-game hitting streak before Thursdaya .

Despite the centerfielder's current hot streak at the plate, he was going to get a rest during the Braves' stretch of 33 games in 34 days.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a two-run homer and the Miami Marlins took an 8-4 win over the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a two- game set.

The Atlanta Braves moved to the top of the National League East division standings with a 6-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday, setting up the victory with a four-run third inning.