Ian Anderson roughed up as Braves fall to Red Sox

Ian Anderson got beat up by Boston’s formidable lineup while Travis d’Arnaud, Adam Duvall, and Alex Dickerson homered as the Braves fell to the Red Sox by the score of 10-7.

After an unlucky double play in the top of the first where Austin Riley hit a rocket that Xander Bogaerts caught and threw to second ended an early Braves threat, the start of the game did not go well for Ian Anderson. After a leadoff walk, Anderson gave up a two run homer to the red hot Rafael Devers to give the Red Sox an early 2-0 lead. Ian would then strike out the next two hitters before giving up a two out double to Alex Verdugo. Two consecutive walks later and that was it for Ian as he failed to finish the first inning. In short, it wasn’t pretty.

Jake Higginbotham relieved Ian and hit the first batter he faced with the bases loaded which forced in a run and stretched Boston’s lead to 3-0 before getting a force out to mercifully end the inning.

After a quick inning from the Braves offense with the notable exception of an Adam Duvall double, Ian Anderson re-entered the game (which is allowed in spring training). It was good to see that there wasn’t an injury that caused his exit. Unfortunately, the Red Sox continued their assault on him as he gave up back to back singles to start the inning and a JD Martinez grounder got through a couple of batters later to make it a 4-0 lead for Boston. Fortunately, Ian then struck out Verdugo and Trevor Story to end the inning. Not the most auspicious of performances, but fortunately its just spring training.

Things did not improve for Ian as he would give up a two run homer to Christian Vasquez in the third to make it a 6-0 lead for the Red Sox that officially ended his day. It is probably best not to look for highlights of this start.

The Braves did finally get on the board in the fourth as Ozzie Albies and Eddie Rosario had back to back singles to start the inning. A wild pitch put them both in scoring position and a sac fly from Alex Dickerson made it a 6-1 game. Guillermo Heredia was then hit by a pitch in the hand that ricocheted into his face. He was pulled from the game in favor of Travis Demeritte and he appeared to be in quite a bit of pain.

Things did not improve for the Braves. The Red Sox would put three runs up on Dylan Lee before the Braves brought in Indigo Diaz to stop the bleeding. He actually did do just that as a strikeout and a double play later and the Braves deficit in the fourth inning remained at eight runs.

The comeback bid started in the next half inning as Travid d’Arnaud connected for his first home run this spring to get back another run. A pair of singles from Austin Riley and Eddie Rosario put runners at the corners with two out and Adam Duval cashed them in with a three run homer, his first home run of the spring, and all of sudden the Red Sox lead was a more manageable 9-5.

Alex Dickerson would follow with a solo shot of his own to make it a 9-6 game and the Braves were firmly back in the game...somehow.

The Red Sox were not done, however, as the first two runners of the sixth reached base on a single and a double respectively before a sac fly made it a 10-6 Boston lead. Fortunately, especially given how this game went for the Braves’ pitching staff, that was all the damage that was done.

The Braves would get a run back in the top half of the eighth inning thanks to a RBI double off the bat of Ryan Goins following John Nogowski single and a walk from William Contreras. Considering how this game started, a 10-7 margin wasn’t so bad.

The Braves made things interesting in the top of the ninth after Phil Gosselin reached on an error and Chadwick Tromp singled to put two on with no out. Travis Demeritte would then strike out and after Orlando Arcia flied out, John Nogowski represented the Braves’ last hope and the tying run. Unfortunately, he flew out and the Braves suffered just their third loss this spring.