Atlanta Braves Friday recap: let’s play two!
Today was split squad day for the Atlanta Braves. Good results were seen early, but there were some late struggles.
The Atlanta Braves were looking to fend off both the Phillies and the Yankees in simultaneous split-squad games on Friday afternoon. The short version? Both games were lost, though both also showed bright spots.
Let’s start at North Port where the Yankees came into town. This game featured Mike Soroka on the bump.
Soroka gave up no runs in two innings, though did see three singles against him. One of these was erased via a double play; the others were made inconsequential thanks to a strikeout and ground out.
Soroka did not walk a batter and did strike out three against a lineup featuring only D.J. LeMahieu, Josh Thole, and Gleyber Torres among their ‘regulars’.
Josh Tomlin was next, silencing the pinstripers over 3 innings with only 1 hit and 1 walk the blemishes against 3 strikeouts of his own.
After that… only Chad Sobotka got through unscathed.
Will Smith, Shane Greene, and Grant Dayton accounted for 5 runs allowed. Greene gave up a 2-run homer with an error allowing the extra base-runner. Dayton’s outing was most shaky – 3 hits and 2 runs.
On the other side, Trey Harris added a late homer for his first Spring hit. Johan Camargo knocked in a pair… himself included, thanks to a home early on.
The only other hit mustered by the Braves came from Nick Markakis as 11 Braves recorded strikeouts against a AAA-worthy pitching group from New York (led by starter Deivi Garcia).
Aunca and Albies? Combined to go 0 for 6 with 3 of the strikeouts between them. The final score was 5-3, New York.
Up in Clearwater
Things went well for Bryse Wilson: 2.2 innings of one-hit ball with just 1 walk and 2 strikeouts.
Thomas Burrows followed for the next 4 outs. He walked a pair, but gave up nothing else.
The bad outing for the day belonged to Kyle Muller, who was rocked by a fairly substantial portion of the Phillies regular lineup for 4 runs – Bryce Harper doing most of the damage with a bases-clearing double.
Muller’s day ended after facing 7 batters and getting only one of these out.
Dansby Swanson and Adam Duvall both recorded a pair of hits – starting this outburst against Aaron Nola, who Atlanta nicked for 6 total hits and 2 runs… despite getting 6 strikeouts in 2 innings (though he also gets the ‘faced 3 batters in the 3rd’ asterisk on his line).
Austin Riley got one of those hits – a single against Nola. Nonetheless, that 5-run fifth inning was quite enough as Philadelphia won the ‘major league portion’ of this game.
The plucky minor league replacements did manage a late rally in the 9th, plating 3 runs during/after the second out to tie the affair at 5-all.
Alas, Connor Johnstone couldn’t hold it for the tie: 3 straight batters singled, but catcher Carlos Martinez threw the ball away after getting out number one at home… allowing the winning run to score: 6-5 Phillies.
Fourteen Braves hitters struck out against nine Philly pitchers in this really long game.
Overall today: Swanson continues to rake early on (.455) and the Braves starting pitching continues to do excellent work. It was good to see both Camargo and Riley get hits, too.
On Saturday, it will be an evening affair as the Braves inch down the coast to play their next-door neighbors in Port Charlotte: the Tampa Bay Rays. Game time is 6:05pm Eastern.