Atlanta Braves have curious day and Grapefruit League game in loss against Tigers

The final score was 7-6 Detroit, but by itself, that tally says nothing about some of the curious happenstances around the Atlanta Braves today.

This has definitely been a ‘newsy’ day for the Atlanta Braves and for the NL East in general… and I won’t regurgitate it all, as we’ve been writing all day about it.

But one thing that shouldn’t slip through the cracks was this afternoon’s Grapefruit League game at Disney World against the Tigers… and what was effectively a AAA lineup that they brought up from Lakeland for the day.

So with Mike Foltynewicz being scratched from his start and other Braves rotation members (or candidates) suddenly looking vulnerable to not making the opening day roster, Touki Toussaint was called upon in a position that could have done a lot of good for himself in the eyes of the decision-makers.

Except that it really could not have gone much worse for the youngster.

That 7-6 final score?  The Tigers had 5 of those runs up on the board before Toussaint was able to record a single out.  4 hits and a walk… after hitting the first batter.

The capper was a 3-run jack out to left field that you could call a ‘revenge shot’ since it came from the bat of former Brave farmhand Dustin Peterson.  Just something to remind the Braves about what they might have had.

That Escalated Quickly

Toussaint managed to get out of the inning – with 2 strikeouts, to boot – and then sat down for the day.

The Braves lineup had an interesting mix to it… which jives a lot with our look at ‘trending’ players from first thing this morning.

Mixed in with the ‘regulars’ included Pedro Florimon (trending up) and Adam Duvall (trending down).  That pretty much went according to the manner that each player has been performing this Spring thus far:

• Florimon – 1 for 2, 2 RBI and a walk.  Oh, and he homered again*.
• Duvall – 0 for 3.  Still batting .000.

* – Florimon nearly homered twice except that this pesky Peterson kid out in left field robbed him.  “Have a day, Dustin!”

Other than that, you’d have to be happy with the manner in which the rest of the Braves’ offense performed:

• Albies:  2 for 3
• Freeman:  1 for 2
• Markakis:  1 for 2
• Riley:  1 for 2, plus a walk

Atlanta pushed 4 runs across in the bottom of the 9th against the last pitcher Detroit put onto the mound, but at that point it was mostly 2nd- and 3rd-level substitutes involved at that point of the game.

On the pitching side, Jonny Venters threw a clean inning, as did Jesse Biddle.

Sam Freeman did not fare as well:  3 hits, a run (homer), and a walk were involved.

The other run was allowed by highly regarded pitching prospect Ian Anderson, who was making his debut in a mainline Spring game.  He allowed the 7th run with 2 hits and a walk allowed.

Follow-Up News

We had previously noted that Josh Donaldson was scheduled to start Spring game play on Friday.  That has changed:

That’s interesting… and concerning as well.  It suggests – to me, at least – that the Braves training staff has some concerns about Donaldson and the continued health of his legs.

Whether this new exercise “form” is in response to any particular recent concern is unknown… it could simply be a preventative measure for the future.  But it’s noteworthy, nonetheless.

Here’s the best news of the day:

Now frankly, I will be more interested to know if there’s any soreness tomorrow, but right now we’ll take everything we can get in terms of good reports about starting pitchers.

To that end, there was this…

While we were taking a look at the potential worst-case scenarios for the rotation, the coaching staff seems to already have their own pecking order for the available arms.

No word now on the details, but it does appear that – for now, at least – internal options will be the order of the day with everyone waiting to see how these tight arms (Folty, Gausman, Gohara) and shoulders (Soroka) respond to treatment and rest.

It seems that the whole world of baseball news showed up today… 1 month before hostilities commence for real.