The Atlanta Braves got a big boost from a huge day from Ronald Acuna Jr. on Saturday. Thanks to his work, a strong day on both sides of the ball from Forrest Wall, and mostly solid bullpen work, the Braves were able to take down the Twins in this half of their spring doubleheader by the score of 9-4.
Max Fried got the start for the Braves on Saturday and an early error by second baseman Hoy Park proved to be costly in the first inning. After getting the next two hitters via strikeout, Max would give up a two-run homer to Kyle Garlick to put Atlanta in an early 2-0 hole.
However, the Braves would get that run back very quickly. Michael Harris, who missed yesterday with a stiff back, hit a one out double in the second inning. Ozzie Albies would move him over to third on a single and Forrest Wall would follow with an RBI single to bring him how and cut the deficit in half.
Fried would be locked in over the next couple of innings and the offense continued to ramp up. In the bottom of the third inning, Ronald Acuna Jr. would lead the inning off with a triple and Matt Olson would bring him home on a groundout. After a walk and a single after that put a couple more runners on, Michael Harris would again come up big with a RBI single to give the Braves the lead. Forrest Wall would then connect on a two-run double after that and the Braves' lead stretched to 5-2.
After the Twins got a run back after Fried exited the game, it was time for Ronald Acuna Jr. to get back to work. Hoy Park would lead off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and then Ronnie proceeded to hit a ball that I am not full convinced is going to land. The two-run homer would give the Braves a 7-3 lead.
Acuña ma tater. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/8bBzUmLuey
— MLB (@MLB) March 25, 2023
The Twins would get a run back off of Collin McHugh with a sac fly, but given the bases loaded situation that McHugh put himself in, things could have been a whole lot worse. Both Kirby Yates and Jesse Chavez each had scoreless innings of relief along the way.
Ozzie Albies would get in on the fun in the seventh inning with a RBI triple to make it an 8-4 Braves lead. A note earlier this week worth mentioning here about Ozzie: it sounds like that while Ozzie was a better hitter as a righty historically, hitting from that side was the thing that was the most impacted by his shoulder issues, so we may not be seeing him hit righty much early on. A groundout from Forrest Wall brought Ozzie home to make it 9-4 Atlanta.
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The Braves next spring training game is tomorrow against the Pirates at 1:05 PM EST. Opening Day is getting close, folks, so stayed tuned.