LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – The Braves’ lineup couldn’t muster much against Detroit’s Justin Verlander, but their own starting pitcher was nearly the equal of the Tigers ace.
Jaime Garcia limited the Tigers to one run on five hits and one walk in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts, the third consecutive strong start for the Braves left-hander who’ll begin the season manning the third slot in Atlanta’s starting rotation.
Atlanta lineup regulars were out of the game when Mel Rojas Jr. led off the ninth with a double, advanced on Emilio Bonifacio’s sacrifice and scored on Adam Walker’s single to give the Braves a 2-1 win.
Freddie Freeman’s line-drive home run to right field with two out in the first inning was one of only two hits against Verlander, who walked none, struck out four and faced one batter over the minimum in six innings. Freeman fouled off eight pitches and homered on the 12th pitch of the at-bat, his first home run of spring training.
“That was a hell of an at-bat,”Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Just to battle, battle, battle, foul balls off. Good pitchers like the challenge of facing good hitters, and vice-versa.”
The other Braves hit off Verlander was Ender Inciarte’s two-out single in the sixth, and the Braves’ center fielder was thrown out trying to steal for the final out of the inning.
Garcia lowered his ERA to 2.63 in five spring starts including 1.98 in his past three. In the latter period he’s allowed 10 hits, three runs and three walks with 10 strikeouts in 13 2/3 innings.
“The season’s coming up pretty soon, so you start getting into that mentality of going deep in the game,” Garcia said. “I was able to do that. Just got to continue to get better and be ready.”
The lefty faced the minimum nine batters through three innings, inducing a ground-ball double play from Alex Avila after a leadoff walk in the second and getting an assist from Tyler Flowers in the third when the Braves catcher threw out Jose Iglesias trying to steal second after a leadoff single. Flowers has thrown out a runner in each of the past two Grapefruit League games, after throwing out just two all season in 2016 when 60 runners stole bases while he was catching.
The Tigers tied the score on Nicholas Castellanos’ home run to straightaway center off Garcia with one out in the fourth inning, before Garcia struck out two of the last three batters in the inning and three of five after the homer. Garcia’s curveball was particularly sharp and buckled several Detroit hitters’ knees.
