Series Preview: San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves

ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 22: Pinch runner Danny Santana #23 of the Atlanta Braves scores under the tag of catcher Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning while home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott #81 looks on during the game at SunTrust Park on June 22, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JUNE 22: Pinch runner Danny Santana #23 of the Atlanta Braves scores under the tag of catcher Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning while home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott #81 looks on during the game at SunTrust Park on June 22, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 22: Pinch runner Danny Santana #23 of the Atlanta Braves scores under the tag of catcher Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning while home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott #81 looks on during the game at SunTrust Park on June 22, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 22: Pinch runner Danny Santana #23 of the Atlanta Braves scores under the tag of catcher Nick Hundley #5 of the San Francisco Giants in the fifth inning while home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott #81 looks on during the game at SunTrust Park on June 22, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /

The San Francisco Giants head east to Atlanta where they will begin a 10-game road trip after winning their fourth consecutive series.

Despite all of the injuries, it’s been an exciting few weeks for the Giants as they’ve started winning some ball games and now are a game over .500.

This road trip starts in Atlanta where they’ll face a very young team in the Braves. Then they’ll face another up-and-coming NL East team in the Philadelphia Phillies. The road trip ends in Pittsburgh against a Pirates team that has exceeded expectations so far this year.

The Braves offense leads the National League in runs scored, and they are tops in all of baseball in batter average and on-base-percentage (coming into Thursday). So this will be a huge test for the Giants banged up starting rotation.

Atlanta will be coming home after a long 10-game road trip that ended Thursday afternoon in New York against the Mets.

While I think many would consider the Giants to be more of a Wild Card contender than the Braves because of the Giants’ experience and Braves lack off, but I wouldn’t be surprised if both of these teams are competing for a Wild Card spot come September.

That makes this series even more intriguing for the Giants to see where they stack up against the competition. They’ve beaten the Angels, Nationals and Dodgers as of late — all of which are considered playoff contenders — so beating the Braves would add another one to their resume.

Let’s get into the matchups: