Ian Anderson gets rocked in third inning as Braves fall to Red Sox 4-0

The Braves’ offense was completely stifled and Ian Anderson had a rough start as he got shelled in the third inning as the Red Sox beat the Braves by the final score of 4-0 in seven innings.

It was an outing to forget for Ian Anderson as the Red Sox were teeing off on him on this day. After pitching a scoreless first two innings, Boston seemingly figured something out as Enrique Hernandez, JD Martinez, and Marwin Gonzalez all took Ian deep in the top half of the third inning. Thomas Burrows would come in to relieve Ian and got the third out of the inning, but the damage was done and the Braves were in an early 4-0 hole. Because spring training is weird, they still let Ian hit in the bottom half of the third, presumably to give him some practice since the NL inexplicably still has the DH in 2021. Ian’s final line for the day was 2.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, and 3 K.

Things settled down a bit with Tyler Matzek, who actually looked human of late, pitched a scoreless frame in the fourth while Sean Newcomb did the same in the fifth inning. Victor Vodnik, who we are watching closely as he seemingly is now entrenched as a relief prospect with a big time fastball, did not allow an earned run in his appearance in the sixth inning, either. Freddy Tarnok made a scoreless appearance of his own in the seventh, although he had to work out of some trouble with runners on the corners and did so thanks to a strikeout of Jeter Downs.

If you are looking for offensive highlights from this game for the Braves, you may be waiting a while. After Ozzie Albies singled in the first inning, the Braves did not record another hit until the sixth inning when Michael Harris singled (bringing his spring OPS up to .850) and then CJ Alexander did the same a couple batters later. Both runners were sadly stranded, though and that ended the game for the Braves.