Braves pitcher Brandon McCarthy walked Giancarlo Stanton in the first inning and Didi Gregorius made him pay. Then he walked Aaron Judge in the third inning and Stanton made him pay.
McCarthy allowed just two hits in three innings against the Yankees Monday night, but both were two-run homers in the Braves’ 5-1 exhibition loss on a chilly night at SunTrust Park.
It was McCarthy’s first-ever game at SunTrust and the first of two home exhibition games before the Braves open the regular season at home Thursday against the Phillies.
“Other than taking a day off the calendar, that was really the only (positive),” McCarthy said of his outing. “Everything else sucked. Maybe getting a feel for the park or the mound, but really, this was just a day to move past.”
On Tuesday the Braves face a Future Stars team comprised of many of the organization’s top prospects including two 20-year-olds for whom the future-stars tag doesn’t seem overly presumptious: outfielder Ronald Acuna, baseball’s No. 1 prospect and the Braves’ best player while in major league camp this spring, and pitcher Mike Soroka, the Canadian who’ll start the game against the big club.
McCarthy planned only to pitch a few innings Monday as a tune-up for his official Braves debut when he starts the third game of the season Saturday in a series finale against the Phillies at SunTrust Park. He saw how the ball can fly out of the park when conditions are right, as they were frequently early in its inaugural season in 2017.
Then again, Stanton hits balls so hard and so far that park factors and prevailing weather doesn’t much matter. If the former Marlins behemoth connects squarely, there might not a park that’ll hold him other than Yosemite.
“Stanton’s isn’t staying in anywhere, for any reason,” McCarthy said. “If there was a net there it was going to go through the net.”
Stanton led the majors with 59 homers last season including four in 40 at-bats at SunTrust Park, and Judge was second in the majors with 52 homers. Gregorius hit 25 last season for the Yankees, who led the majors with 241 home runs in 2017, then added Stanton to their modern-day Murderer’s Row.
McCarthy, 34, allowed just five homers in 92-2/3 innings last season with the Dodgers. He’s given up four homers in 15-2/3 innings of four spring-training starts against major league hitters (he also pitched in a minor league game and a simulated game).
He was asked about getting a chance to get a feel for the mound Monday before he pitches Saturday in a game that counts.
“At least I can say I’ve done it. I’ve pitched at places on the road where you don’t really need to have a feel for it,” he said. “But I guess if I’m going to take a positive away from it, I can say that.”
When asked what went wrong Monday, the candid veteran’s reply was basically, what didn’t?
“All the pitches I threw, the way I felt, mechanics, how far some of the balls (went),” he said. “I mean, just basically all the things that can really upset you in a start were present today.”
After walking only one batter in three Grapefruit League starts before the Braves left Florida Sunday, McCarthy issued three walks Monday, both costly. After striking out No. 2 hitter Judge – yes, the Yankees have a 52-homer hitter batting second – for the second out of the first inning, he walked Stanton before Gregorius went deep.
McCarthy walked the leadoff hitter in the second before retiring the next three batters on two ground-outs and a fly-out.
He walked Judge with one out in the third inning to bring up Stanton, who hit a mammoth homer that landed in the Hank Aaron Terrace of the second-deck seating in left field, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
The Braves got on the board in the fourth when Ozzie Albies pulled a leadoff double to right and scored two ground-outs later.
About the Author
