Exhibition baseball is still baseball!
The Atlanta Braves got their spring training campaign for 2025 started in the same way that they likely intend to start their regular season campaign: With Chris Sale looking good on the mound. Sale pitched two clean innings that went by in the blink of an eye as the Braves began their Grapefruit League season with an exhibition against the Twins.
Sale looked like his usual self to start things off, as he retired all six batters that he faced in order and with relatively little issue along the way. Sale threw 21 pitches total with 14 of them being strikes. Depending on who you ask, his fastball was either averaging 93.8 mph or 94.7 mph — I can’t throw in my own guestimate since I’m not down there in Florida, so let’s just say that his heater was sitting at 94 mph today. Either way, Sale was looking solid and the only real blemish I can think of is that he somehow finished the outing without picking up a strikeout. Still, you have to imagine that everybody associated with the Braves will be hoping that Sale will continue to have effective appearances like this over the course of spring — while avoiding injury, of course.
Bryce Elder got the ball once Chris Sale was done and he pitched two more scoreless innings on top of that. Elder also one-up’d Sale by picking up a pair of strikeouts while he was out there but he did give up a hit while he was out there. With that being said, it’s totally fine to be satisfied with how Elder looked during his two innings of work today.
Angel Perdomo followed up Elder’s two innings with a scoreless inning of his own but the streak came to an end once Dylan Dodd arrived on the mound in the sixth inning. Things started well enough as. he got Ty France to fly out to lead off the inning. However, Harrison Bader got on with a soft single and that was the start of Dodd’s problems. Kala’i Rosario smacked a double out to center and then Dodd hit Will Holland to load up the bases. Dodd was able to get DaShawn Keirsey Jr. out to get to two outs but he was unable to escape the jam as Luke Keaschall poked one out to left to plate two and put the Twins ahead. Dodd got Armando Alvarez out to end the inning but it was definitely a tough inning as far as Dodd was concerned.
As far as things go when it comes to the hitters for the Braves, the only two players who figure to be regulars this season who were in the lineup today were Jarred Kelenic and Sean Murphy. Kelenic actually led off the game with a double but he was left stranded at first to end the inning. That ended up being the only hit for Kelenic on the day over three at-bats. Sean Murphy also went hitless in the two plate appearances that he had before he was done for the day.
Once Sean Murphy was pulled from the game after his second at-bat, Drake Baldwin took over as the catcher after starting the day as the designated hitter. Baldwin didn’t record a hit either but he did get on base with a walk in the top of the seventh inning against Scott Blewett. Nacho Alvarez Jr. also finished 0-for-2 on the day before giving way to Eddy Alvarez for the rest of the game. Nick Allen delivered the RBI knock in the third inning off of Justin Topa that plated Carlos D. Rodriguez for what ended up being Atlanta’s only run of the day.
The Braves went on to lose today’s game 3-1 to the Twins, which would be devastating if we lived in a world where the Grapefruit League actually meant something. Overall, it was encouraging to see guys like Chris Sale and Bryce Elder hit the ground running and hopefully we’ll see some more regulars getting in there with tomorrow being a home game. Ian Anderson will be starting tomorrow’s game against the Rays (starting at 1:05 p.m. ET) and it’ll certainly be intriguing to see what he looks like in his first start of spring as he battles for a rotation spot.