Mike Foltynewicz cruises as Braves and Cardinals tie at 2-2

The Atlanta Braves still don’t have a road win in Spring Training but, as of Saturday afternoon, they now have a road tie in Spring Training. Mike Foltynewicz was good over four innings and the Braves blew a 9th-inning lead on the way to a 2-2 tie against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Foltynewicz tossed four innings of one-run ball, striking out three while allowing only one hit and issuing one walk. The lone blemish for the talented young right-hander came on a fourth-inning home run allowed to Matt Adams but, in general, this was a very promising performance for a presumptive member of the Opening Day rotation.

Aside from that showing on the mound, the biggest piece of news from Saturday’s game was the early exit of Adonis Garcia.

Atlanta’s starting third baseman grounded out in the first and then was replaced by Rio Ruiz to begin the second inning. While it does not appear to be a serious injury, it is always noteworthy to follow up on injuries in the Spring and the team has high hopes for Garcia in 2017, for better or worse.

Elsewhere, Tyler Flowers drove in the first run of the day after back-to-back stolen bases from roster hopeful Emilio Bonifacio in the fourth inning. As a general rule, the offense scuffled on a day in which only Garcia, Flowers and Jace Peterson appeared among those who are “locks” for the roster, and the Braves generated only ?? hits despite picking up a win. Perhaps the biggest contribution, though, came from Balbino Fuenmayor, who blasted a home run in the sixth.

On the mound, there were other strong showings in support of Foltynewicz. Jose Ramirez struck out two in a perfect inning, Ian Krol cruised though the sixth frame without blemish and both Mauricio Cabrera and Paco Rodriguez navigated single innings while allowing only one baserunner each.

Akeel Morris then allowed the game-tying run in the ninth after giving up two hits, but he escaped a bases-loaded jam with no additional damage to send things to extra innings. After a 1-2-3 inning for Atlanta, youngster Caleb Dirks entered and kept St. Louis at bay before ???

Ozzie Albies and Rio Ruiz represented the youngsters on the diamond, though they combined for an 0-for-4 showing. Johan Camargo and Micah Johnson also appeared, and Camargo drew a walk on the way to an 0-for-3 day with two strikeouts, while Johnson also struck out twice in the midst of an 0-for-4 showing.

The Braves will be back in action on Sunday against the New York Yankees. Stay tuned.