Atlanta Braves: Felix Hernandez increases rotation chance with another solid outing
The comeback attempt with the Atlanta Braves continues to go well for Felix Hernandez with another solid outing on Tuesday.
Things are now picking up for Atlanta Braves starting pitchers as they work deeper into games and face Major League hitters a second time through.
We certainly didn’t want to overreact too much after Felix Hernandez put together two good outings to start his Spring.
But things continue to look up as he tossed 4 solid innings on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.
This game was not on TV, so I’m making my judgment based on what I heard from the radio broadcast.
I’m not going to lie and tell you this was a great outing from King Felix, but as the title states, it was solid.
He gave up three singles in the first inning but only allowed one run. The second and third innings were much smoother.
Then he ran into trouble in the fourth after giving up a leadoff single and a walk to put two on with no outs. But then he got a strikeout — one of two on the day — and then got a double-play on a ball that bounced off the front of the pitcher’s mound right to Ozzie Albies for an easy double-play.
After he put the first two on in the fourth the Braves bullpen got going, meaning had he not got that double-play he may not have survived the fourth.
Overall his line looked like this on Tuesday: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 BB, 1 ER, 2 K.
And on the Spring his total numbers look like this: 8.2 IP, 7 H, 3 BB, 2 ER, 8 K
Obviously, we’ll take that type of production from Felix Hernandez in the regular season.
From the broadcast, it sounds like he was locating his fastball and changeup really well on Tuesday.
I still think Felix is one of the favorites, along with Sean Newcomb, to break camp in the Braves starting rotation.
With the off-day on Thursday, we could either see Felix pitch against the split-squad New York Yankees lineup on the road on Sunday, or at home on Monday against the Boston Red Sox — a night game that will be televised.