This was not the final tune-up that Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz had in mind.
After not giving up a run in his first four Grapefruit League starts, Foltynewicz got whacked for eight hits and six runs in two innings Sunday in a 10-3 loss to the Tigers in the Braves’ final spring training game in Florida.
The Braves play exhibition games at SunTrust Park against the Yankees on Monday and against the Braves’ top prospects on Tuesday before opening the season Thursday at home against the Phillies.
Foltynewicz gave up six runs on seven consecutive hits to start the second inning and got into his old habit of speeding things up too much instead of taking a deep breath and slowing down when things got hectic.
“Yeah, wish we could have ended it a little better going into the season,” said Foltynewicz, who will start the second game of the season Friday against the Phillies. “But just kind of throw this one into the garbage.”
He had one walk and three strikeouts and threw 28 strikes in 42 pitches against basically a full Tigers lineup. It was the second time Foltynewicz faced them in 11 days and he thought the familiarity might’ve played a part in his struggles.
Not in some of the fastballs he left over the middle of the plate, which were hit hard and would’ve been by any team, but in his pattern of secondary pitches.
“I threw some good off-speed that they might have been sitting on (expecting) a little bit,” Foltynewicz said. “I think just the pitch sequence might have got a little predictable, especially coming off pitching against them last time (March 15). Maybe mix some things up a little more and don’t get into a routine with pitches.”
Foltynewicz finished spring training with a 3.38 ERA in five official starts, having allowed just three hits and four walks in 14 innings over his first four games before Sunday. But that didn’t include a Triple-A game in his most recent outing Wednesday, when he also gave up runs including a homer.
“Yeah, wakes you up a little,” he said. “Very humbling experience out there the last couple of times out, makes me work hard, focus more, especially when you’re facing opening-day lineups and they’re ready to go. That’s going to be every team this year, so just slow things down just a tad and get myself more under control next time.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “As long as he feels good.” Then he smiled and added, “He was having too good a spring, maybe. Something like that might be a good thing. I told him, too, sometimes that just happens. As long as he feels good.
“Overall he got a lot done this spring. It was a really solid, good spring for him.”
Foltynewicz had his pitch schedule disrupted a bit in the last week due to an off day Tuesday on what would have been his day to pitch. Instead he pitched in the Triple-A game the next day, which put him on short rest (three days) for Sunday, though he and the Braves saw no problem with that considering the plan was just to pitch two or three innings against the Tigers.
Asked after his rough outing Sunday whether the short rest affected him, Foltynewicz said, “No, actually my arm felt good, it really did. Just at the end of the day, those fastballs have got to be a little down. I felt good, it was coming out of the hand good today. When that ball’s up in the zone and they get jammed, I supply the power, so it’s going to get out in the outfield for them hits and them seeing-eye singles. There were a couple of hard-hit balls today and I’ll give them that. Other than that we’ll just start back at the drawing board again and take these four days to get ready for Philly.”
