Drew Smyly sharp in Braves’ loss to Orioles

The Atlanta Braves fell to the Baltimore Orioles 8-1 Wednesday afternoon at CoolToday Park despite a good showing by Drew Smyly.

Smyly made his Grapefruit League debut in a Braves uniform Wednesday afternoon and looked impressive. Smyly allowed a leadoff single to Baltimore outfielder Austin Hays and nothing else. He struck out the side in the second and exited after two scoreless innings while allowing one hit and striking out three. Smyly used his full arsenal of pitches and it was overall a solid debut for one of Atlanta’s key additions from the offseason.

Luke Jackson had an eventful inning in the third. He issued a walk to Chris Shaw to lead off the frame. Shaw advanced to second on a wild pitch and then came around to score on a throwing error by Johan Camargo at third. Carl Edwards made his second appearance of the spring and allowed two hits including a solo home run to DJ Stewart. Edwards settled down and struck out two to close out the inning. Tucker Davidson gave up a two-run shot to Hays in the fifth that pushed Baltimore’s lead to 4-1. The Orioles tacked on four runs in the seventh against Patrick Weigel thanks to a couple of errors by CJ Alexander at third and Guiellermo Heredia. Only one of the runs that Weigel allowed was earned.

The Braves’ lone run came in the fourth as Ozzie Albies connected on a home run off of Dillon Tate.

Atlanta finished with just three hits on the afternoon. Cristian Pache and Philip Ervin both went 1-for-2 at the plate.

More Notes

• Ronald Acuna Jr., Marcell Ozuna, Dansby Swanson and Johan Camargo combined to go 0-for-8 with two strikeouts.
• Outfield prospect Michael Harris fell behind 1-2 in the count and then fouled off several pitches before grounding out to short.
• Victor Vodnik pitched around a leadoff double in a scoreless sixth.

The Braves will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Bradenton to take on the Pirates. Bryse Wilson is scheduled to make his first start of the spring for Atlanta.