Money Mike and co. help Braves close out spring training with 7-5 win

The Atlanta Braves closed out their spring training schedule with another matchup against the Red Sox. Thanks to strong days at the plate from Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuna Jr., and Ehire Adrianza, they were able to head into the regular season on a high note and win by the score of 7-5.

Charlie Morton got his final start of spring training and the results weren't the best as he gave up a pair of home runs and did not strike out a batter in 2.1 innings of work. Again, this is spring training, but you certainly would be hoping that Morton looked better in his last spring training start than he was today. Definitely not worth pressing the panic button, but worth keeping an eye on.

The Braves would get the scoring started in the top of the first inning. After they loaded the bases thanks to singles from Ronald Acuna Jr. and Austin Riley and a walk to Marcell Ozuna with one out, Michael Harris II grounded into a force out that scored Ronnie and the Braves grabbed an early 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, they would only get the one run from all of that, but we will take it.

After Morton gave up a two-run homer to Masataka Yoshida in the bottom half of the first and then a solo shot to Triston Casas in the second, the Braves were down 3-1 and the offense had to get back to work. In the top of the third inning, Ronnie would again lead the inning off with single and then Matt Olson would double to put runners on second and third. After a couple of unfortunate outs, Michael Harris would come through with a two-run single and then Ozzie Albies would drive in Money Mike with a double and just like that, the Braves led 4-3.

Orlando Arcia would give the Braves some breathing room with a solo home run in the fourth to continue his strong spring training. How Arcia performs, especially early on in the season, is going to be something to keep an eye on given how the shortstop competition played out this spring.

After the Braves would add a run thanks to a RBI single from Ethan Workinger (although he would get thrown out trying to take second), the Red Sox would find some success off of Jared Shuster who made a relief appearance. Shuster would give up a run to make it a 6-4 Braves lead and, probably more importantly, he walked three batters in two innings of work.

The later innings were firmly in "minor leaguer cameo" mode, but the Braves kept chugging. Nacho Alvarez (who is having a nice spring) led the inning off with a double and later came home on a double off the bat of Ehire Adrianza to stretch the Braves lead to 7-4. Boston would add a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but that was as close as they got.

Upcoming Braves Schedule

We are done with spring training....huzzah! The Braves have tomorrow off and then the regular season opens up on Thursday at 1:05 PM EST against the Washington Nationals.