This game was peak Spring Training in many ways, though not in the relevant ones. The relevant things first, as always:
- Kyle Wright only managed to get two outs in his outing. After starting his day with a strikeout, he walked Tommy Pham, allowed a line-drive single off the first baseman, and then yielded the first Lowe blow, to Brandon. Four batters later, after a single and another walk that sandwiched Wright’s second strikeout, Nathaniel delivered a Lowe blow of his own, and just like that, Wright had surrendered a six-spot. That was it for him, he was lifted in favor of Ben Rowen after facing just eight batters. So it goes.
- Austin Riley actually got the Braves on the board first with a solo homer off Brendan McKay, his second of the month. He went 0-for-2 with a walk the rest of the way, but did not strike out for either of his two outs.
- Adam Duvall had gone hitless since March 10 (yes, March 10), but managed a two-hit game, the first time he had done so in Grapefruit League action since his two-homer game early in the month. We’ll ignore the fact that one of the two hits was a bloop that was not flagged down by the leaden-footed Avisail Garcia.
- Dan Winkler and Shane Carle, two bullpen hopefuls, both yielded runs in their innings of work. Carle was tagged for a homer by Mike Zunino; Winkler allowed back-to-back doubles to start his day and actually allowed three straight hits before buckling down and retiring the side.
Anyway, where were we? Oh, right, Peak Spring Training. This game featured an appearance for the Braves by Jack Lopez, a 26-year-old who had a 62 wRC+ (not a typo) for the Royals in Triple-A last year. Yep, that’s a thing that happened. Also, at first base for the Braves for much of this game featured Andy Wilkins, who is still chasing the dream after being busted back down from the majors and Triple-A back to Double-A for most of the past two years, and had a 38 wRC+ (also not a typo) in 80 Triple-A PAs last year. Keep at it, Andy! We’re all rooting for you.
In pretty familiar-but-meaningless-for-Spring Training fashion, the Braves lost this game even though they outhit the Rays, because the Rays hit two three-run homers and the Braves managed just one extra-base hit, which was Riley’s first-inning homer. Homers, they are great, even in Spring Training.
The Braves host the Tigers tomorrow evening at Champion Stadium, where Julio Teheran will get yet another tune-up for the regular season.