The Atlanta Braves pitching staff turned in a great performance and Ozzie Albies homered to help the Atlanta Braves to a 3-0 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Spencer Strider made his fourth start of the spring for Atlanta and was sharp again. Strider allowed a one-out single to Willi Castro but nothing else in the first inning. He then came back and struck out the side in the second including a beautiful breaking ball for strike three to Brooks Lee for the third out. Strider added two more strikeouts in the third and then ended the fourth with back-to-back punch outs of Christian Vazquez and Manuel Margot.
Lee greeted Strider with a double to right to start the fifth inning. Austin Martin then sent a grounder to Orlando Arcia at short who fielded it and fired to third in time to cut down Lee. Strider then struck out Michael Helman and Edouard Julien to end the inning.
Strider was excellent again allowing just two hits over five scoreless innings. He walked one and struck out nine while throwing just over 70 pitches.
Raisel Iglesias took over in the sixth for his third appearance of the spring. Iglesias was knocked around in his last outing against the Pirates, but looked better in this one striking out two in a scoreless frame. Aaron Bummer worked a scoreless inning in the seventh while Pierce Johnson struck out two in a perfect eighth.
The Braves started fast offensively as Ozzie Albies jumped on a pitch from Chris Paddack and drove it out to right for a solo shot in the first inning. Atlanta loaded the bases after the homer on a Matt Olson hit-by-pitch and a pair of singles from Marcell Ozuna and Travis d’Arnaud, but Orlando Arcia bounced into a double play to end the inning.
Atlanta loaded the bases in the eighth and finally came up with a key hit when Luis Liberato singled home two to push the lead to 3-0. d’Arnaud, Chadwick Tromp and Jordan Luplow all finished with two hits each.
