Atlanta’s offense breaks out in a 12-0 win over the Rays

The Atlanta Braves’ offense finally broke out with three home runs in a 12-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

After struggling in his spring debut, Max Fried needed a good outing. While he struggled with his command at times allowing three hits and two walks he didn’t allow a run over 2 2/3 innings.

The Braves didn’t waste any time getting to Yonny Chirinos. Drew Waters walked to lead off the game and then moved to second on a one out single by Austin Riley. Adam Duvall followed with a deep double to center that scored both Waters and Riley to give Atlanta a 2-0 lead. Johan Camargo followed with a single to score Duvall and extend the lead to 3-0.

Atlanta added another run in the second on a long home run by Peter O’Brien to left off of Chirinos to make it 4-0. They would add another run in the third on a double by Tyler Flowers to extend the lead to 5-0.

Darren O’Day made his spring debut in the fourth striking out two in a perfect inning. Ian Anderson came on in the fifth and was greeted by a long double off the bat of Willy Adames and a single by Chris Hermann to put runners at the corners with no one out. Anderson then struck out Michael Perez for the first out and then got Austin Meadows to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning. He allowed a one out single to Brandon Lowe in the sixth but struck out Hunter Renfroe and Nate Lowe to hold the Rays at bat.

The Braves struck for four more runs in the eighth. Trey Harris drove in Jonathan Morales and Braden Shewmake with a triple and then Cristian Pache connected on a two-run home run off of Colin Poche to extend the lead to 9-0. Atlanta added three more runs in the ninth including a long home run by Greyson Jenista.

The Braves hammered out 15 hits in the game. Riley and Camargo combined to go 4-for-6 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI. Morales went 2-for-2 while Drew Waters finished 1-for-2 with a walk. O’Brien, Pache and Jenista all hit their first homers of the spring in the rout.

The Braves will be back in action on Sunday against the Boston Red Sox where Mike Foltynewicz is scheduled to make his second start of the spring.