LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – When Erick Aybar snapped a scoreless tie with a two-out triple in the sixth inning Friday, he became the ninth Brave to hit a triple this season and raised the team’s Grapefruit League-best total to 11 triples. It would’ve been an even dozen if not for a rainout in Friday’s other split-squad game.
The Astros came back to tie with a run off Jason Grilli in the top of the seventh inning and the game ended with the score 1-1 after 6 1/2 innings because of rain, the third rain-shortened game in two days for the Braves.
In a split-squad game against the Tigers at Lakeland, Ender Inciarte led off the first inning with a triple and scored on a throwing error on the play, which is something the Braves want to do a lot — be aggressive on the bases, put pressure on opposing defenders.
The team’s improved speed now and for the future has been evident all spring, including three triples from outfield prospect Mallex Smith before he was sent to minor league camp.
Inciarte and Aybar, the new top-of-the-order duo, have a triple apiece, and Inciarte would’ve had his second and the team’s 12th if the game against the Tigers hadn’t been rained out after four innings, an inning short of being considered an official game.
Inciarte also had two hits erased Thursday when the Braves’ game against the Phillies was rained out in the fourth inning.
One person probably pleased to see Friday’s results at Lakeland scrubbed by the rainout: Braves minor league catcher Willians Astudillo, who grounded into a rare triple play in the second inning with the score tied 1-1.
The Braves led 3-1 after four innings when the game was rained out and the stats officially wiped away.
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