Braves Beat Cards 3-1

Written by Colin on March 10, 2008 – 9:15 pm

The Braves beat the Cardinals Monday behind a very strong outing by Jair Jurrjens, who gave up one hit in four scoreless innings. He walked one, struck out one, and continued to keep most of his pitches low in the zone on his way to his second win of the preseason.  And the hit he gave up?  He immediately picked the runner off first. The Braves didn’t have a particularly strong offensive day, but in the first, Jordan Schafer doubled and Mark Kotsay singled him in for an RBI to get the Braves on the board early.

The rest of the afternoon was semi-uneventful.  Royce Ring and Ryan Drese each had a scoreless outing, and Matt DeSalvo gave up an earned run in the 8th.  Brian McCann added an RBI of his own in the bottom of the first.

Jordan Schafer looks good this spring - his .389 average shows his consistency and ability to bat.  On the other hand, Javy Lopez had a good day - hitting a solo home run in his only at-bat.  He’s had some issues - hitting only .214 so far this preseason.  I read earlier today on AJC that he’s showing up around 7 AM to take early batting practice and says he’s thinking too much.  I think we’ll see Javy make some adjustments in the next week or so.

Cox offered some praise for Jurrjens after the game with the following comment:

“He’s very impressive. For his age and his limited amount of experience, he’s a professional pitcher out there.”

Next up, we have Tom Glavine pitching against the Nationals tomorrow night at 7:05 PM.  Moylan plans to pitch an inning as well.

Tags: Jair Jurrjens, Javy Lopez, Jordan Schafer, Mark Kotsay, Preseason
Posted in Game Analysis |