Ian Anderson shoves, Matt Olson remains on a warpath as Braves lose to Yankees 10-6
By Eric Cole
Ian Anderson had an excellent bounce back outing while piggybacking a strong showing from Charlie Morton and Matt Olson continues to wreak havoc in spring training as the Atlanta Braves lost their pre-season matchup with the Yankees by the score of 10-6.
Charlie Morton got the start for the Braves on Sunday and the first inning wasn't exactly a banner one for him as he gave up a solo shot to Oswaldo Cabrera with two outs. However, he did strike out Giancarlo Stanton to end the inning without any other damage. That would end up being the only blemish on Charlie, though, as he finished his day with 2.2 IP with just the one hit and earned run with a pair of strikeouts.
Matt Olson is on quite the heater to start his spring training and the usually excellent Carlos Rodon wasn't going to stop him today. After Ronald Acuna Jr. reached on an infield single, Olson connected for his third homer of the spring to give the Braves a quick 2-0 lead.
Olson wasn't done, though. Ronnie again reached base ahead of him, this time on a rope of a double to left. Matt would drive him home with an RBI single and then Austin Riley got in on the fun with a two-run shot of his own and just like that, the Braves led 5-1. After a couple more Braves batters reached base, the Yankees pulled Rodon, but the damage was done.
Ian Anderson came into the game after Morton and had a strong first inning of work with a quick 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts. While he did give up a walk in the fifth, he also struck out three more batters which was really nice to see. The sixth inning wasn't as kind, but it is hard to blame Ian for the start of it as a trio of errors allowed a run to score. After a walk, a stolen base, and a pop out, Ian's day was done. However, the Braves would get out of the inning without any other damage.
The next few innings went by without incident as Kirby Yates and Lucas Luetge had scoreless innings of relief and the offense went dominant as the starters got pulled. The Braves would add a run in the bottom of the eight after Eli White tripled and Cade Bunnell drove him in on an infield single to make it a 6-2 game.
Things went south in the ninth inning when Alan Rangel came into the game. The Yankees were down to their last three outs, but the first three batters went walk, walk, three run homer and just like that, it was a one run game. Nolan Kingham would come in and give up a pair of walks and a home run off the bat of Jasson Dominguez and just like that, the Braves were down 8-6. The Yankees would get a couple more runs off of Kingham and the Braves found themselves in a four run hole after giving up eight runs in the inning.
Now it was the Braves that were down to their last three outs. Justin Dean gave the Braves a two out single and Joe Dunand did the same to give the Braves some life, but Cal Conley struck out to end the game.