Ozuna, Hilliard help Braves offense go wild in 15-5 spring win
By Eric Cole
While it wasn't Bryce Elder's sharpest outing to be sure, the offense went wild with big days from Marcell Ozuna and Sam Hilliard and homers from Ozzie Albies and Ehire Adrianza. The end result was a win for the Atlanta Braves by the score of 15-5.
The Braves got the scoring started early in this one. After Ozzie Albies walked (!) to lead off the inning and Vaughn Grissom moved him over on a single, Marcell Ozuna connected on a double to center that drove them both home. A couple of batters later, Sam Hilliard drove Ozuan home on a single and after an RBI groundout, the Braves were very quickly ahead 4-0.
Bryce Elder's day didn't get off to the best of starts. After a pair of strikeouts that sandwiched a single, Nick Castellanos launched a two-run homer to make it a 4-2. Those would be the only runs that Elder gave up, but it also wasn't the most crisp of outings for him as he went four innings with four hits and three walks to go along with three strikeouts. Not ideal numbers for a guy that is presumably in the running for a spot in the rotation to be sure.
As for the Braves' offense, they were far from done. Marcell Ozuna added a two-run single in the fourth inning and Sam Hilliard added an RBI single right after that to make it a 7-2 Braves lead. In the fifth, Ozzie Albies knocked a three run home run (his second homer this spring) to make it 10-2 and if the rout wasn't on then, it certainly was after Ehire Adrianza hit a grand slam in the very same inning.
The offense was quiet for a couple of innings after that, but got going again even with the roster filler coming into the game. Arden Pabst had an RBI single to make it 15-2. The Braves even had some more things cooking with two out with a couple of runners on with Cody Milligan at the plate, but Pabst got picked off to end the inning.
Fortunately for us, the Braves didn't COMPLETELY implode in the ninth. They tried their best, though, as an RBI single and then a two run homer off the bat of former Braves prospect Dustin Peterson made it a 15-5 game. The pain ended after that, though, and Atlanta came away with a convincing win.
The Braves take on Houston tomorrow at 1:05 PM EST. Will be curious to see if any more roster cuts happen after today.