Kyle Wright solid over three innings in 4-0 spring training victory

Kyle Wright had the Twins offense on their heels for the three innings he pitched, striking out two and allowing only one hit. Wright allowed mostly ground balls when the ball was put in play, including the one hit he allowed, which was in the third inning. He immediately induced a ground ball for a double-play after allowing that hit.

Up first from the bullpen was Will Smith, who was very impressive, inducing a fly out in foul territory from Luis Arraez before striking out the final two batters of the inning, including a brief friend from this offseason in Kyle Garlick. Nate Jones had a solid 1-2-3 inning in the fifth with one strikeout. Jacob Webb came in to pitch in the sixth inning and recorded a strikeout before giving up a double to Keon Broxton. Webb escaped the inning, inducing a flyout and a groundout in the next two batters.

The offense had much less success than Wright early on, even as most of the projected regular starters were in the lineup today aside from Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley. The offense was only able to muster two baserunners in the first four innings, with a third inning single from Guillermo Heredia and a fourth inning single from Ozzie Albies that was immediately followed by a ground ball double play from Freddie Freeman, making his spring training debut for 2021.

The offense made a little more noise in the fifth inning, with a single from Travid d’Arnaud and a double from Johan Camargo, but d’Arnaud’s pinch-runner Jonathan Morales was unable to score on Camargo’s double and the inning ended with a Heredia strikeout.

The prospects generated another offensive threat in the sixth inning, starting with Bryce Ball, who substituted in for Freddie Freeman and drew a walk. The Ball base on balls was followed up by a single from Michael Harris, who has seen his prospect stock rise rapidly in recent weeks (which our prospect team was way out ahead of, ranking him fifth in our preseason top 30 prospects list). Jonathan Morales followed Harris’ single with a walk to load the bases. Longtime Braves farmhand Sean Kazmar doubled to break the deadlock, scoring Ball and Harris. Top prospect Drew Waters added to the lead with a double of his own, bringing Morales and Kazmar home.

Relief prospect Daysbel Hernandez came in for the top of the seventh and secured the win for Atlanta with two strikeouts on either end of a single from Rob Refsnyder and a ground ball out to end the inning.

Outfield prospect Trey Harris was the sole baserunner in the bottom of the seventh inning, with a single.

Ronald Acuna, Freddie Freeman, Marcell Ozuna, and Cristian Pache all went hitless on the day, with no walks.