Braves win rain-shortened slugfest against Orioles
By Chris Turner
A well-timed Florida rainstorm brought an end to Atlanta's Spring Training game on Monday, with the Braves winning 6-5 after 6.2 innings of action.
The win puts Atlanta's Spring record at 7-7. Baltimore now sits at 6-9.
Dylan Dodd impressed again on the mound, throwing four scoreless innings and striking out four Orioles. He's thrown a little more than eight scoreless innings this Spring, striking out 11 and allowing only five hits.
Atlanta got on the board first in the third inning, with Eli White hitting a home run to make it 1-0. The Braves tacked on three more in the 4th behind another White homer and a Jordan Luplow RBI single.
After Dodd's departure and a scoreless inning from Raisel Iglesias, Jackson Stephens entered the game to try and maintain the Braves 4-0 lead. The Orioles clawed back with a Heston Kjerstad home run, a walk, an infield single, and a Josh Lester three-run homer to jump ahead 5-4 in the sixth inning. This was just the second appearance for Stephens this Spring. Trey Riley came in next, and was able to escape the inning with no further damage.
In the bottom of the sixth, Luplow and White continued their big days with a double and infield single, respectively, leading to Braden Shewmake coming up with two outs and two runners on. The 25-year old delivered with his biggest hit of the Spring so far, with a two-RBI triple to right center pushing the Braves ahead 6-5.
Dylan Lee came on in the 7th and struck out Ryan McKenna and Kjerstad before the tying run got on via a Jackson Holliday infield single. Lee threw one pitch to Mark Kolozsvary before the game was put on pause due to weather, then eventually it was called and deemed official.
Today's big performances by White and Luplow serve as a reminder that Alex Anthopoulos will have some tough decisions to make over the next few weeks when cutting this roster down to 26 names for Opening Day.
Noteworthy Stats
-B. Shewmake: 1-3, 3B, 2 RBI, BB
-E. White: 3-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI
-J. Luplow: 2-3, 2B, RBI
-M. Ozuna: 2-3, 2 2B
What's Next?
Braves will face the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET.