LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – After 14 seasons in the majors, Braves pitcher Tim Hudson has learned to set relatively modest goals for his first outing of spring training. At 37, best to ease into things, you know?
“I felt all right,” Hudson said after allowing no hits and one walk in two scoreless innings of a 2-1 loss to Detroit in the Braves’ Grapefruit League opener Friday at Champion Stadium. “It’s always nice to get the first one out of the way. I figure, didn’t blow anything out, didn’t limp off the mound. So that’s always a good day.”
Braves pitchers didn’t give up a hit until the eighth inning, and Braves hitters didn’t have a hit until Freddie Freeman’s fifth-inning single or a run until minor leaguer Joey Terdoslavich’s ninth-inning leadoff homer.
Needless to say, after only a week of full-squad workouts the pitchers were still ahead of the hitters.
“Oh yeah, dude, they’re going to be,” Braves right fielder Jason Heyward said, then smiled. “Everybody except Miguel Cabrera.”
Cabrera, the Tigers’ reigning American League MVP, hit two balls hard to right field and to the center-field warning track.
It was the debut of the Braves’ revamped outfield with the Upton brothers in center (B.J.) and left (Justin). They saw little action in the field and each went 0-for-2 before exiting. Heyward went 0-for-2 with a groundout and a strikeout.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez gave his starters two at-bats apiece, as planned, before bringing in replacements.
“I don’t think we can get a lot of feedback here early,” Heyward said of his first game with his new outfield mates. “Most feedback is going to be when we start playing games in the regular season. That’s when it’s going to be real, when it’s going to count, with everyone’s adrenaline going, from opposing pitchers to ourselves out there in the outfield.
“Right now you just want to get a feel, talking, communicating. Getting a feel for ourselves individually and also together, as far as where we need to be.”
Hudson cruised through a seven-pitch first inning with two groundouts and a flyout, then walked Prince Fielder to start the second inning and hit the next batter, Victor Martinez.
“Obviously there’s some things I still need to work on, but that’ll come as you extend your innings,” said Hudson, who will add one inning with each game, like other Braves starters. “I threw mostly sinkers and cutters. I threw a couple of good cutters to get to two strikes (on Martinez), then tried to make one really good and snapped him in the ankle right there….
“(The outing) was all right. You don’t want to walk a guy to lead off an inning, then hit the guy to set up first and second, no outs.”
The veteran sinkerballer worked out of the jam by inducing a double play from the next batter, Jhonny Peralta.
Five Braves relievers threw a hitless inning apiece – closer Craig Kimbrel had two walks and one strikeout in the third inning – before minor leaguer Ryan Buchter gave up two runs and three hits in the eighth inning, including consecutive triples by Tyler Collins and Jeff Kobernus.
