Miami Marlins’ Eovaldi Stellar In Loss to Atlanta Braves, 2-1

A pitcher’s duel broke out at Roger Dean Stadium on Wednesday night as the Atlanta Braves held on to defeat the Miami Marlins 2-1.  A pair of young hard throwing right handers squared off against one another as the Marlins’ Nate Eovaldi battled Kris Medlen of the Braves through the first 5 innings.

Eovaldi delivered his best performance of the spring and has now allowed just one run in consecutive starts, the previous outing coming against the Yankees.  This time around Eovaldi hurled strong 5 innings in which he struck out four Braves hitters and did not issue a base on balls.  He allowed just three hits with one of those being a home run off the bat of Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman accounting for the lone run allowed.  Eovaldi’s ERA improved to 3.29 and he is limiting opposing hitters to a .191 batting average on the spring.  The Marlins are counting on Eovaldi developing into a top of the rotation starter and performances like this one show that the potential is definitely there.

Mar 3, 2013; Jupiter, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Nate Eovaldi (24) throws in the second inning during a spring training game against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

The Marlins used three relievers to finish off the game after Eovaldi with Jonathon Albaladejo taking the loss.  The Braves second and eventual winning run was scored in the top of the ninth inning thanks to a two out RBI single by Braves third baseman Chris Johnson.

As for the Marlins offense…well they did take six walks including four in a row in the sixth inning which provided their only run on the night.  Unfortunately, they were only able to muster two hits off of Medlen and none off of the rest of the Braves staff.  The two hits coming one each from the bats of Casey Kotchman and Rob Brantly.  Kotchman is now sporting an impressive slash line of .407/.429/.593 on the spring as he battles to win a spot as the opening day first basemen.

Up Next: The Marlins have the day off on Thursday before heading up to Tampa to face the New York Yankees on Friday.