Atlanta Braves
On Tuesday night, the Braves and Dodgers squared off in the first game of three at Sun Trust Park. The Dodgers took this one 3-2, but the more important aspect of this game was Lucas Sims making his Major league debut as the Braves starting pitcher.
With all eyes on Sims, he showed up in a positive way allowing just three runs to the best team in baseball. He didn’t receive any help defensively, though, which had one crucial error behind him. He went six innings and allowed six hits (all with a two strike count) along with giving up three earned runs and striking out three, but the best part was that he didn’t walk anybody. If you look at these numbers, you say a mediocre start at best, but when you take into effect who pitched and who he pitched against, it makes it look a lot better.
Sims pitched two shutout innings and then gave up one run in the 3rd, 4th and 5th innings. In the 3rd, he gave a pair of doubles from Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor. Then in the 4th it was a 2-2 fastball he left hanging over the plate for Cody Bellinger, and without anyone on, you know the rest. And in the 5th it was Yasiel Puig stealing 3rd base, as Tyler Flowers threw the ball into left field to allow Puig to score. Then after being shutout for seven innings, Johan Camargo woke up SunTrust Park with a two-run blast to make it a one run ball game. Kenley Jansen came in to finish the Braves off and did his thing by striking out the side on 14 pitches. The Braves accumulated just four hits on the night, as Kenta Maeda pitched a gem for the Dodgers allowing two hits in seven innings, striking out six.
In other news, Ozzie Albies went 0-2 in his Braves debut with a walk and scored a run on Camargo’s homer. Also, Matt Adams played left field last night, where he played briefly for the Cardinals. It didn’t work out for him in St. Louis, but we hope it works for him here in Atlanta. But some of the biggest news came after the game in Brian Snitker’s press conference. He said that Freddie Freeman is moving back to first on a daily basis now. And also that Ozzie Albies is going to be the starter over Brandon Phillips, at least for a little while.
So even though the Braves lost, we got a chance to see some of the Braves future and I believe most of us liked what we saw. The Braves look to even the series with the Dodgers on Wednesday night at 7:35 as Julio Teheran takes the hill against Brock Stewart, who is making his first start of the season for the Dodgers.