Atlanta Braves thumped by the Dominican Republic 9-0 in spring training matchup

It was a tough day at the office for the Atlanta Braves as their opponent was a loaded Dominican Republic national team gearing up for the World Baseball Classic while the Braves were trotting out a lineup mostly devoid of regulars. The result was a one-sided contest that the DR won by the score of 9-0.

We are going to need to start talking more about Dylan Dodd as he has had quite the spring training for the Braves. After giving up a leadoff single to Julio Rodriguez, Dodd struck out Rafael Devers and retired Manny Machado and Teoscar Hernandez without incident. In the second, he got Robinson Cano and Gary Sanchez out quickly before striking out Eloy Jimenez to end the inning. Have we mentioned this Dominican team is LOADED.

After another empty inning for the Braves' offense, things took a rough turn for Dodd in the third. After a walk and a double put runners on second and third with no out. A sac fly and a pop out gave the Dominican Republic a run, but also had Dodd heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, a RBI single from Teoscar Hernandez gave the DR another run and the back breaker was a three run shot off the bat of Robinson Cano and just like that, the Braves were down 5-0.

There wasn't much in the way of action after that, although we did have some important bullpen pieces making appearance. Raisel Iglesias didn't seem to be particularly sharp as he had a pair of walks in his scoreless inning of work, although he did strike out a pair. AJ Minter made his spring training debut and gave up a pair of hits, but also struck out three batters to put up a zero of his own.

Things did not improve for the Braves from there. Joe Jimenez gave up a pair of home runs in route to giving up four runs while only recording a single out. The Braves' offense, meanwhile, scattered six hits throughout the game. Forrest Wall was a bright spot has he had a pair of hits and two stolen bases. Eli White had the only extra base hit for the Braves as he recorded a double.

The Braves will have to pick themselves up off the mat now and their next matchup is tomorrow against the Blue Jays at 1:07 EST. Hopefully we will see more of the lineup regulars and things go a bit better.