LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Plenty of hard-hit balls and strikeouts made for an interesting outing for Wandy Rodriguez in the Braves left-hander's final Grapefruit League start Tuesday night.
Rodriguez was charged with eight hits and three runs in five innings of an 8-5 loss to the Astros, including three doubles and a Jed Lowrie homer. The veteran also had eight strikeouts with no walks, striking out the side in the second inning and striking out Jonathan Villar and Luis Valbuena consecutively to end a perfect fifth.
“He pounds the strike zone,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “It’s not like he’s throwing 100, but he’s not afraid and he throws the ball over the plate. You’re going to give up some runs once in a while, but I really liked what I saw.”
Gonzalez said after his five hitless innings against the Marlins on March 20 that Rodriguez would be the No. 4 starter, barring something unexpected. Gonzalez has seemed to back off slightly from that proclamation since, but before Tuesday’s game he said Rodriguez still seemed likely to be in the rotation and that there were basically three pitchers – veteran lefties Rodriguez and Eric Stults, prospect Mike Foltynewicz – competing for two rotation spots.
If based solely on performance, Rodriguez and Stults would get those two spots. But other matters such as contracts, a potential trade, or Foltynewicz’s long-term development could come into play, in which case the prized prospect might take one of the spots rather than have Foltynewicz start the season in the Braves bullpen or Triple-A rotation.
Rodriguez has a 3.13 ERA in six starts, with 23 strikeouts and 11 walks in 23 innings. Asked whether he thought he’d done everything he could to make the team, he said, “I think (so). Tonight I have a little problem with a couple of pitches. But I feel like I’ve done a good job so far.”
Both Rodriguez and Stults signed minor league contracts that have opt-out clauses that permit them to become free agents if they’re not going to make the opening-day roster.
Rodriguez gave up consecutive long doubles to Jose Altuve and Villar to start the game, followed by a Valbuena single to give the Astros a quick 2-0 lead. Rodriguez struck out two of the last three batters in the inning, struck out four in a row and retired seven of eight before Lowrie’s leadoff homer in the fourth.
“That’s him,” Gonzalez said. “He doesn’t shy away from contact. He left a couple of pitches up to a couple of good hitters. But other than that I liked what I saw. Five solid innings, spun the curveball a little bit. I think as the game went on the breaking ball got better.”
Rodriguez said he felt some pain in his throwing shoulder when he reached for an Altuve single up the middle to start the third inning. But after Gonzalez and a trainer came out to see if he was alright, Rodriguez threw a few warmup pitches to show that he was, then continued.
Etc. A.J. Pierzysnki had a two-run, two-out single in a four-run fifth inning that gave the Braves an 5-3 lead, but bullpen candidate Brandon Cunniff gave up a three-run homer by Colby Rasmus in the sixth and left-hander Luis Avilan allowed a two-run double by Gregorio Petit in the eighth for an 8-5 Astros lead…. Pierzynski (.361 average) and Eric Young Jr. (.324) had two hits apiece for the Braves…. Braves Kelly Johnson (back of right arm) and Chris Johnson (left hand) were hit by pitches and came out of the game. Each said he was sore but otherwise OK.
