It was a little fluky that the Braves hadn’t won in their first seven games this spring training (six losses and a tie), so it was fitting that they got something fluky to help them win their first.
New Nationals manager Matt Williams wanted to experiment with a five-infielder shift, and Braves second baseman Phil Gosselin took full advantage. With one out in the eighth, the bases loaded, the infield in, and right field empty, he tripled to right field to clear the bases and help the Braves to a 8-4 win.
“I wish they would take a defender off all the time,” Gosselin said. “I actually had seen that in college, in a regional (against) UC Irvine. I was a little surprised when they did it. The catcher said it was something they had been working on. I guess they were going to try it out for during the season.”
Steven Souza came in from right field to play first base, and at first waved toward the Nationals dugout to get a first baseman’s glove. Realizing it wasn’t worth the time in a spring training game, he swapped gloves with first baseman Brock Peterson and took his position at first. Peterson lined up at second base, and the other three infielders lined up on the left side of the infield.
Former Brave Luis Ayala was pitching, hoping to induce a groundball on a pitch down. At 2-2, he hung what Gosselin said was a hanging split-finger pitch.
“Wins and losses aren’t the most important thing down here but everybody wants to win,” Gosselin said. “And it was nice to get that first one and just be able to contribute a little bit.”
Pitching watch
Kris Medlen worked three scoreless innings Tuesday in his second outing of spring training, mixing in a few more of his offspeed pitches and seeing positive results. He struck out Anthony Rendon looking at a curveball and got Danny Espinosa to swing and miss a change-up for his second strikeout.
The only hit Medlen gave up was on the only four-seam fastball he threw, which Ian Desmond used to double off the left field wall in the first inning.
Unlike pitchers who focus on honing their fastball command this early in spring, Medlen wanted to start incorporating more of his secondary pitches.
“I’m not a very good pitcher without all three of my pitches, and I’m aware of that,” Medlen said. “So I need to work on all three.”…
Right-hander Jason Hursh, the Braves’ 2013 first-round pick from Oklahoma State, gave up four hits but no runs while doing scoreless work in the eighth and ninth innings to earn the win Tuesday.
Hursh used a groundball double play to get out of a jam in the eighth and another double play to end the game. Jamey Carroll flew out to right field with the bases loaded, and Joey Terdoslavich doubled Souza off first base in a generous call to end the game.
“He’s got good life on his fastball, doesn’t seem to spook,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Hursh. “We misplayed the ball there in left field in the ninth inning; he got back on the mound and made some good pitches. I don’t care if it’s a spring training game or you’re playing the 12-and-under team on the back field, the last three outs to get are still hard to get, and he got them. You like to see mound presence and mound demeanor and he showed us some pretty good.”
