Atlanta’s bats continue to make some noise in the Grapefruit League as the Braves battle to get another win in spring training.
It took the Bats a while to get going, but once they did, several Braves regulars made their presence felt loudly. Jorge Mateo did have an RBI single in the second inning, but things got pretty rowdy in the fifth. Matt Olson seemed to have gotten all the change from Pirates pitcher Nick Dombkowski with one out on first and second. Olson crushed it with an electric 109 mph and a 27-degree launch angle, but ended up only landing on the fence (386 feet from home plate, to be exact) for an RBI double. Drake Baldwin scored in the game to give the Warriors the lead in the game.
Austin Riley then came to bat and earned bragging rights in the dugout when he drove Domkowski’s pitch over the fence to score two runs. Now, Riley’s bat has a “softer” velocity of 102 mph and a shorter distance of 368 feet, but the idea is to hit the ball over the fence, which is what Riley did for the fourth time this spring. That gave the Warriors a three-game victory as the middle of the lineup continues to look solid as the regular season approaches.
In the process, Jose Suarez ended up throwing 75 pitches in 5.1 innings. He did a great job of keeping the Bucs lineup quiet in this one, and the Bucs didn’t send a roster full of organizational depth to Northport. Suarez allowed just one run on two hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Suarez’s strikeout victims include Marcel Ozuna (twice), O’Neal Cruz and Mississippi State baseball legend Jake Mangum, so the strikeouts weren’t against less competition either. It certainly helps that Suarez left North Port and headed to Cobb County instead of Gwinnett County.
Joel Payamps came on to relieve Suarez in the sixth inning, and he ended up going 1.2 innings while striking out two batters. That set the stage for Russell Iglesias to come on in the eighth inning, his third scoreless inning in five spring training games so far. While Iglesias did give up a hit, he did strike out two batters along the way, so as long as he does that once the season starts, people here will be pretty happy about it. Roberto Suarez ended the game with a scoreless inning and two strikeouts, so it was nice to see both the starter and closer come out strong in the inning.
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Returning to the regulars at the plate, Derek Baldwin and Dominic Smith each had a hit in this one. 2026 World Baseball Classic champion Ronald Acuña Jr. received a loud ovation when he returned to Braves training camp, and while he didn’t have a hit, he did make his presence felt with two walks. Meanwhile, Carl Conley hit a double, stole three bases and had an RBI single, so that’s very encouraging. Luis Guanipa drove in Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. with an RBI single of his own, and Jorge Mateo’s aforementioned RBI single was his only knock of the day.
If you’re the kind of person who’s been encouraged by the results of spring training, you’ll be happy to see that the Braves currently sit atop the Grapefruit League standings. While no one is hanging a banner about winning the Grapefruit League pennant, it’s good to see the Braves continue to work there and get ready for a game where the scoring really starts to count this time next Friday. Are you all excited?
