Atlanta Braves game 4 recap vs. Nationals

It’s a small world after all – the Braves played the Nationals on Sunday and again on Monday… but neither team had the same look as on Sunday.

Okay, we got that out of the way:  the Atlanta Braves saw Ronald Acuna get his first hit today and the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani also got a hit.

Now let’s get back to the business of getting ready for the regular season.

Home Feels a Lot Better

As a reminder, MLB is allowing teams to leave a lot of veterans at home for Spring games through March 1st.  That’s due to the compressed Spring schedule, but it means that there are a lot of contests that resemble ‘major-league-vs-triple-A-or-lower’ matchups.

Want an example?  The Miami Marlins were at their home today against a split squad Astros road lineup (so Houston was doubly crippled).  That went 11-0 Marlins.

Of course, even as I say that, the Red Sox (now 4-0) blistered the Pirates up in Bradenton by a 13-2 count, so it’s not quite a universal thing.

The Braves managed to eke out a 2-1 victory against a hollowed-out Nationals club for their first win of the Grapefruit League season.  Here’s the highlights:

• Ozzie Albies is still on fire:  2 for 3 today… he’s now hitting .444.
• Kurt Suzuki got his first start and went 2 for 2, plating Ronald Acuna with the game’s first run via a double to left.
• The aforementioned Acuna did line a single through the right side of the infield – going oppo – before scoring from first base on Suzuki’s double.
• Nick Markakis threw somebody out at home attempting to score via a sac fly.  He also singled (sky is blue; water is wet;… etc)
• Freddie Freeman?  1 for 2.  Mid-season form.

The Pitching

There wasn’t a bad inning today.  In fact, it took until the 9th inning for Rex Brothers to yield a run… a homer.

But it still wasn’t exactly dominating:  8 pitchers gave up 10 hits – all of them giving up at least 1.

Julio Teheran, in 2 innings, yielded 2 hits and 2 walks with no K’s, so he pitched out of some trouble… but he did pitch out of it.

A.J. Minter was the other who gave up 2 hits.  No strikeouts, but no walks, either.

Both Brothers and Peter Moylan struck out 2… as a team, the Braves K’d 6 and walked 4.  Anyelo Gomez, Arodys Vizcaino, Miguel Scolovich, and Akeel Morris all had good outings – Socolovich with a nice bounce back from his (at best) shaky 6 run line during Friday’s opener.

On top of the highlights defensively (above), there were no errors charged in the game, with the regular starting 8 (plus Acuna) on the field for the first few innings… including Johan Camargo at third base.

Weather or Not

I know this was from Sunday, but I still get a chuckle out of it:

Somebody to Watch?

Danny Santana is back on a minor league deal after hitting poorly in the majors last season… with an especially poor start.

Spring stats are horrid to gauge anything on – especially if you are facing the weaker pitching later in games.  Often, in fact, these stats say more if you’re playing badly than if you’re playing well.

That said, Santana is starting this year with some promise.  He had another hit in 2 trips today.  He’s possibly in the running for a bench position, but will have to earn the slot… and so far he’s doing okay.

Next: Fly Straight?

TUESDAY is Folty Day… hopefully the Pirates will forget their bats again.