Jarred Kelenic and Orlando Arcia both brought their big bats to the ballpark for the spring training finale for the Atlanta Braves. Both Kelenic and Arcia ended their Grapefruit League seasons with home runs as the Braves fell to the Minnesota Twins by the score of 9-6.
One of the weirder things to happen in today’s game was that Samuel Strickland started off the game for the Braves. The good news is that this didn’t mean that Charlie Morton was a late scratch from the game, as he eventually did show up and pitch a few innings today. The bad news is that the Twins gave Strickland a rude welcome to Lee Health Sports Complex as Eduoard Julien led off Minnesota’s half of the first inning with a single and then Byron Buxton followed it up with a double. Two straight sacrifice flies from Carlos Correa and Royce Lewis made it 2-0 Minnesota and that’s how it stayed going into the next frame.
That’s when A.J. Minter got the ball for the second inning and his appearance didn’t go particularly well, either. Minter started things off by walking Carlos Santana and then Matt Wallner went deep to make it 4-0 Twins. Minnesota threatened for more afterwards as Willi Castro hit a double and then Minter uncorked a wild pitch against Eduoard Julien to help move Castro to third base. Fortunately, Minter ended the AB against Julien by striking him out and that was the end of his day. Parker Dunshee finished off the inning and that was the only action he got on the day.
The third and the fourth innings were all Atlanta, though. Jarred Kelenic continued to finish spring training with a flurry as he hit a dinger out to center field in order to get the Braves on the board. That was when the Braves started removing their starters, as Ronald Acuña Jr. marked his final AB of spring training with a ground out. The choice to remove the starters became an especially astute choice once the fourth inning rolled around and Austin Riley got hit by a pitch with one out. The good news is that he shrugged it off like nothing happened but it was clear that it was time for the regulars to start getting ready for the trip to Philadelphia.
With that being said, the starters proceeded to end their spring training with a flourish. Matt Olson got on with a single immediately after the HBP and then Michael Harris II hit a two-out double to cut the deficit to two runs. Sean Murphy kept the line going with a single and then Orlando Arcia capped off the rally with a homer to put the Braves ahead by two. While this was still spring training, it was the type of hitting display that we saw a lot of from this lineup last season and we’re all absolutely looking forward to more of the same once the season gets underway. Everyone knows what this crew is capable of and this was a small reminder of what this lineup can do at any given moment.
Innings three-through-five were quiet for the Twins and that was thanks to the fact that Charlie Morton finally made his appearance in this one once the third inning rolled around. Morton was in his usual form, which is to say that he pitched three strong scoreless innings but also managed to hit a batter in the process. Either way, he finished the day with four strikeouts, just one hit allowed, one walk conceded and zero runs allowed. I’d venture to say that he’s very much looking ready for his first appearance of the regular season in Chicago.
By the time the sixth inning rolled around, all of the regulars for both teams were done for the day and the only drama left was to figure out who would come out on top for the sake of the Grapefruit League. At the end of the day, it would be the Twins who would rally to pull ahead and take the win. Niko Goodrum hit the go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning to make it 7-6 Minnesota and then the Twins added on a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning thanks to a two-run double from Brian O’Keefe. The Braves went quietly in the top of the ninth and just like that, the Grapefruit League season was over for both teams.
The Braves will end the “campaign” with a record of 12-15, so they obviously won’t be lifting the banner to commemorate this run in the Grapefruit League. What’s most important is that the Braves will be leaving Florida with a clean bill of health and are going to have all hands on deck as far as the big league squad is concerned. You always want to see the team get out of spring unscathed and it appears that the Braves have done just that, which is very good news indeed.
The next time you see a game recap from us, it’ll be a regular season game recap and hopefully we’ll be bringing you news of a Braves victory to start the season in Philadelphia. Until then, it is officially time to start getting hyped for another season of Braves baseball!
