In order for the Braves to win a second straight series, they will need to overcome some extremely strong pitching.

After securing a series win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the Atlanta Braves will continue their homestand Monday as they begin a three game series against the Detroit Tigers. The Braves took the first two games of the series with the Rays and then rallied back from a 6-2 deficit on Sunday before eventually falling 8-6. Austin Riley capped off a good weekend at the plate with a game-tying two-run home run in the eighth inning. However, Raisel Iglesias surrendered a two-run home run in the ninth to Jose Siri that ended up being the difference.

Despite the disappointing ending, the Braves have a lot of things to feel good about going into Monday. After enduring about a seven-week slump, Atlanta’s offense finally showed signs of getting back on track. The Braves homered nine times in the series. Riley and Marcell Ozuna accounted for five of those nine longballs. Riley entered the series with three homers and doubled his output for the season, and avoided any barreled outs.

It wasn’t all good for the Braves though. Michael Harris II suffered a strained hamstring in Friday’s game and was placed on the 10-day Injured List. An MRI revealed a Grade 2 strain. Atlanta hasn’t announced a time frame for Harris’ possible return but it doesn’t seem like it is going to be anytime soon; the average Grade 2 hamstring strain resulted in an absence of over 30 days, per a 2019 academic study. Jarred Kelenic started the last two games of the series in center field, hit leadoff and homered in both games.

The Tigers got off to a decent start this season, but have gone 17-24 since the end of April. They have lost seven of their last 10 games overall and were nearly no-hit by the Astros on Sunday. They are 17th in the majors in runs scored and are 22nd in homers. Their pitching staff has carried most of the load for the season, especially their rotation. They are ranked eighth in the majors in pitching fWAR and are sixth with a 3.44 FIP. The bullpen doesn’t really have anything of note, but the trio of Tarik Skubal, Jack Flaherty, and Reese Olson have all been really good, and the Braves will have to contend with two of those guys in this series.

Detroit’s offense is trying to figure things out without a couple of its key pieces. Kerry Carpenter is currently on the Injured List and Spencer Torkleson struggled enough that he was sent back to Triple-A. Riley Greene has put together a solid season with a 133 wRC+. Former Braves prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy recently made his major league debut with the club. Malloy is off to a 6-for-32 start with a double and two home runs at the plate. Javier Baez is also on the IL, which is definitely addition by subtraction, given that he somehow already has -1.0 fWAR this year.