Ozzie Albies, Ehire Adrianza homer as Braves blowout Phillies

The Atlanta Braves jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 15-5, Grapefruit League win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The bats came alive early for the Braves in the first as Marcell Ozuna doubled off the top of the wall in center, bringing home Ozzie Albies and Vaughn Grissom for an early 2-0 lead. Kevin Pillar and Sam Hilliard followed with back-to-back singles, the latter of which scored Ozuna to make it 3-0. Pillar would come home on a ground out by Joe Dunand to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Braves bats would get hot again in the top of the fourth as Ozuna singled home Magneuris Sierra and Joe Hudson to extend the lead to 6-2. Hilliard added another run with a single that scored Vaughn Grissom to push the score to 7-2.

Atlanta blew the game open in the fifth. Albies would get in on the action as he crushed a three-run home run to right center field which would extend the lead to 10-2.

The Braves weren’t finished in the inning. Atlanta loaded the bases and Ehire Adrianza would bring everyone home with a long home run to right for a grand slam that extended the lead to 14-2.

An RBI single by Arden Pabst in the eighth inning would round out the scoring for Atlanta.

Other than giving up a two-run home run to Nick Castellanos in the bottom of the first, Bryce Elder had a solid start in today’s game. Elder threw four innings while giving up four hits to go along with three walks and three strikeouts. Michael Tonkin, Nick Anderson, Brian Moran, Danny Young all tossed a scoreless inning each.

Connor Johnstone gave up three runs in the ninth, including a two-run home run by former Braves outfielder Dustin Peterson.

Spencer Strider will be on the mound for the Braves Wednesday when they return home to CoolToday Park for a matchup against the World Champion Houston Astros.