Grant Holmes produced eight groundballs and only allowed one hit in 5.0 innings of work
The Atlanta Braves took on the Detroit Tigers in a spring home game where Grant Holmes got the ball looking to continue his spring training success.
For the most part Holmes looked great. He started off the first inning by only allowing one base runner with a walk to Kerry Carpenter while forcing two fly outs and a groundout. The second inning was even better when he got all three hitters to go three-up-three-down all on ground balls.
The third inning got a little messy for Holmes. He loaded the bases largely on his own doing. He hit both former Braves prospect Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andy Ibáñez as well as walked Trey Sweeney. He was able to get out of the jam with no runs by forcing two strikeouts and a groundout.
He was back to looking great in the fourth. The no hitter ended with a single, but he forced yet another two groundouts and one strikeout in the inning. Grant Holmes was allowed to go back out for the fifth inning. He did issue another walk, again to Carpenter, but forced two more groundouts and recorded his fifth strikeout of the game.
Holmes was relieved after 5.0 innings of work after only allowing one hit. He walked three, hit two, and had five strikeouts. Arguably the most impressive stat of them all was his groundouts. He forced eight groundouts to only two fly outs. If he keeps that rate up, he will be able to get away with the amount of baserunners he allowed today (six).
Dylan Covey came in to relieve Holmes, and let’s just say he did not help his chances of making the roster. In 1.2 innings of work he gave up three earned runs. He allowed four hits, with one of them being a home run, and walked two batters to only one strikeout. Hayden Harris had to come in and pitch 0.1 innings to clean up the mess.
Pierce Johnson was then called upon to get some work in pitching the eighth, a role he may see in the regular season. He looked sharp, facing the minimum number of hitters.
Angel Perdomo came in to pitch the ninth and forced a double play after allowing a walk. He then finished his outing with a strikeout.
The Braves’ offense left much to be desired. They did not score a single run until the seventh inning. Jack Flaherty no hit them through his four innings only allowing a single walk, which was to Jarred Kelenic. If there was a positive, the Braves only struck out three times in the first six innings. The Braves’ biggest flaw is that they grounded out eight times in that same six inning span.
It did look like the Braves may get something going in the sixth inning when Ozzie Albies singled followed by a single from Austin Riley, but no runs came to fruition. The Braves finally broke through with a run once Geraldo Quintero came replaced Marcell Ozuna at DH and a 401 ft home run over the left field wall.
It was mostly the non-roster and non-starters that were in the game for the Braves at this point and nothing of significance happened offensively other than Cal Conley doing his best to try and earn a spot by hitting a single and then eventually stealing second base.
In Summary
Hopefully the Braves hitters are working heavy on mechanics from their new hitting coach because the offense was lacking yet again. It is way to early for a cause of alarm or anything like that.
Cal Conley continued to get on base. With his single today his spring training average is at .583. He also stole a base.
The pitching outside of Covey looked fantastic for the Braves. Grant Holmes looks to be a groundball machine after forcing eight of them to only two fly outs. He also only gave up one hit. He did struggle with control at times allowing three walks and hitting two batters. The relievers who will likely be on the roster looked solid.
The next game will be tomorrow against the Orioles at 1:05 eastern.