LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- When his first three pitches were balls Tuesday afternoon, it looked as if Braves rookie reliever Craig Kimbrel was headed toward his third rough outing in four.
He snapped out of it, coming back from the 3-0 count to pitch a perfect ninth inning with one strikeout in a 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees at Champion Stadium.
Kimbrel threw two nasty breaking balls and struck out the second batter looking at a 96-mph fastball -- the stuff the Braves hope to see plenty of this season from the right-hander.
He's expected to be the primary closer or share ninth-inning duties with Jonny Venters.
“I definitely had a better game than I’ve had the past few,” said Kimbrel, 22, who entered with a 15.43 ERA after allowing six hits and four runs in 2 1/3 innings over three appearances. “It comes with pitching more. The more and more I pitch, the more efficient I’ll be.”
Kimbrel was 4-0 with an 0.44 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings last season, when 16 walks were the only blemish on his overwhelming big-league statistics.
He allowed two hits, two walks and two runs while recording one out in his first spring appearance and gave up three hits and two runs in one inning Friday against Washington.
After falling behind 3-0 against Bradley Suttle to start the ninth inning Tuesday, Kimbrel got him on a line-drive out to first baseman Joe Mather, who made a leaping catch.
He started the next batter, Doug Bernier, with what the pitcher called the two best curveballs he has thrown this spring. He struck out Bernier looking at a 96-mph fastball, before Austin Krum grounded out.
It wasn't Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano, but Kimbrel will take it. The curveball progress had him especially upbeat.
Was Jurrjens tipping pitches?
Jair Jurrjens allowed six hits, four runs and two walks in four innings, but what left him scratching his head were three stolen bases. Three of the Yankees' four steals came against him, two by Eduardo Nunez and one by Brett Gardner in the first inning.
“They played small ball, really aggressive on the bases,” Jurrjens said. “I think every time I threw breaking-ball pitches, they were running. I was trying to go as quick as I could to home, but somehow they were choosing the breaking-ball stuff to run on. Maybe there was a tip."
Jurrjens didn't give up a hit until the third inning, when the Yankees got three runs on four hits, including Curtis Granderson's two-run triple.
He walked the first two batters in the game, then struck out four of the next six Yankees. But Jurrjens ran into trouble in the third, beginning with Ramiro Pena's leadoff ground-ball single.
One out later, Jurrjens gave up three consecutive hits before an inning-ending double play.
"He just maybe left a couple of pitches up over the plate," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "But that's going to happen. This is his third outing, and it's no big deal. He'll get his breaking ball working again. He commanded his fastball pretty good, really."
His fastball velocity was the positive that Jurrjens took from the game. He had a string of injuries during the 2010 season and rarely looked like the pitcher he was while posting the third-lowest ERA among National League starters in 2009.
After feeling rusty in his first two spring outings, Jurrjens said he could tell -- without looking at the radar gun -- that his fastball was better Tuesday. He was right. It was consistently 90-91 mph and topped out at 93.
Gonzalez also suspected that the Yankees were seeing something that tipped Jurrjens’ pitches because they kept stealing on breaking pitches and not fastballs.
“Yeah, that leads me to believe they were seeing something at first base,” Gonzalez said. “We can correct that."
Starter battle moves to back field
Before the Braves play the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:05 p.m. Wednesday, the teams will play a “B” game at 10:30 a.m. on Field 2 adjacent to Champion Stadium.
The added game will allow rookies Mike Minor and Brandon Beachy to pitch four innings apiece as they compete for the fifth-starter job. They are top candidates in the three-way race.
Rodrigo Lopez, who also has aspirations for the job, will start the main game against St. Louis. Last week, all three pitched on the same day when the Braves had split-squad games.
First roster cuts loom
The Braves plan to make their first roster cuts Thursday. There are currently 59 players on the active camp roster, including 31 pitchers and seven catchers. ... Pitcher Kenshin Kawakami, who was two weeks late because of visa issues in Japan, could make his first game appearance by the end of the week. The Braves are trying to trade the veteran, who is owed $6.7 million in the final year of his contract
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