With lefties batting under .200 vs. Francisco Liriano, you’d assume your best right-handed hitter would be in the line-up to face the Pirates starter. But as Coach Manning told the Bad News Bears, when you assume you make an ass out of you and me. Cameron Maybin is on the bench because Fredi is a slave to match-ups and the Braves CF is 0-for-5, with 5 strikeouts, against Liriano. But that was before prior to 2015. Maybin’s OPS vs. southpaws this year: .868.
The good guys are fortunate to avoid Cole and Burnett this weekend, but Liriano has been just as dominant, allowing only 59 hits in 88-1/3 IP.