Garcia Pitches Well, Braves Lose To Tigers In Spring Debut
By Eric Graff
Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Baseball is back!
The Atlanta Braves Baseball Club started off the 2014 season today with a 6-5 loss against the Detroit Tigers. The game was actually called when the Braves had the tying run on base with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th due to rain. No one really cares about the score though, as far as winning or losing in Spring Training, so I will just do a quick rundown of the significant events from the game.
Freddy Garcia started the game for the Braves and pitched two perfect innings as the Tigers went 6 up and 6 down. Garcia is vying for the 5th starter spot in the Atlanta rotation and today was a good step in that direction for him. Garcia struck out 2 and didn’t allow any base runners.
Here was a quote from Freddy after he left the game:
#Braves Garcia said his goals this early were simple: "Make pitches, get people out. I need to pitch good to make this team."
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 26, 2014
As for the rest of the bullpen, Anthony Varvaro pitched a perfect inning, Ryan Buchter struck out 2 but allowed a run on a walk-steal-single combo and Juan Jaime struck out 2 in a scoreless inning. Shae Simmons had a bit of a rough outting in the 9th. He entered with a one run lead, gave up 3 hits, a walk and 2 runs and left with a 1 run deficit.
As for the hitters, Dan Uggla started off 2014 with a bang, going 2-2 and knocked in the first Braves run of the season. I know it’s just the first day of spring training, but that has to be a confidence booster for Dan after how much he struggled last season. Uggla had this to say after the game:
Uggla: "it's encouraging to be going in the direction I'm going & feeling the way I feel. I'm excited about where I'm at" #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) February 26, 2014
Evan Gattis and Ramiro Pena both added RBI doubles and Ernesto Mejia pounded 2 doubles himself. Jason Heyward swiped a base today. Hopefully, that will lead to him running more often this season after his bad year on the base paths in 2013.
Justin Upton was a late scratch with a sore right side. He will be fine, it’s just a precautionary to keep it from lingering. He should be back in the next few days.
The Braves resume action tomorrow against the Tigers again at 1:05 PM EST. Kris Medlen will get the start for the Braves