Strider, Morton and Matzek all pitch scoreless innings in 3-0 spring shutout for Braves over Tigers

Spencer Strider added four more scoreless innings to his spring training tally this season and was also joined by Charlie Morton and Tyler Matzek on the scoreless inning relay. This eventually culminated with the Atlanta Braves shutting out the Detroit Tigers 3-0 on the day.

Strider started today’s game with a strikeout and finished with four strikeouts on the day over the aforementioned four innings of work. If you’re wondering how the curveball looked, then just feast your eyes upon this clip:

That’s what you want to see and hopefully we see a lot of it once April rolls around. The only blemishes on Spencer Strider’s line for the day came in the form of four hits allowed and a walk. With that being said, Strider wiped out a walk and a single with a pop out and an inning-ending strikeout in the second inning. Strider then found himself in a bit of a jam in the third inning as the first two batters reached on singles but then in an instance of “all’s well that ends well,” Ozzie Albies booted a double play ball but Orlando Arcia ended up throwing out Ryan Keidler at home after he tried to press his luck and score a run. Strider then got Kerry Carpenter to ground into an actual double play and that was that for Detroit’s scoring chances in that frame.

Spencer Strider ended the fourth inning the same way he started the first inning: with a strikeout. His day was done in that point and that was when Charlie Morton got the ball for his first appearance of spring training. Morton’s first inning was a little shaky as he walked a couple of batters but he still got out of the frame without giving up a run. Morton brought the Braves from the fifth inning through two outs in the seventh inning before giving way to Anthony Vizcaya.

While Morton was out there, he racked up at least one strikeout in each inning and Vizcaya induced a ground out to end the seventh and also keep Morton’s line clean for the day. For this to be his first spring training appearance of the season, this was a very solid outing for Morton as he touched 96 miles-per-hour on the radar gun during this appearance. You can’t ask for much more than that from your spring training debut for 2024.

Tyler Matzek then entered the game in relief of Vizcaya and pitched a scoreless inning and picked up a strikeout while he was out there. That was Matzek’s third appearance so far this spring and he’s only given up two hits and two walks (none today for either respective stat) so far, so he appears to be on track. Jackson Stephens came on to close the game and while he did give up a walk, he promptly cleaned it up by forcing Dillon Dingler to ground into a game-ending double play to complete the shutout for Atlanta’s pitching staff.

In case you care about the Grapefruit League ramifications, the Braves ended up winning the game and moving to 6-5 this spring thanks to a sixth-inning sacrifice fly and an eighth-inning RBI single from Phillip Evans. Chadwick Tromp brought Evans home with a double to make it 3-0 after eight innings and that’s how the game ended. Meanwhile, Forrest Wall picked up a hit and thanks to some heads-up baserunning, he was able to capitalize on Detroit’s fielding woes and make it to third base on the error. It’s the type of weird play that thing you might expect to see in spring training but the heads-up work from Wall is also the type of stuff that people in high places tend to notice from guys who are fighting for Opening Day roster spots.

There was plenty to like today when it came to Atlanta’s pitching. Spencer Strider continues to keep pushing in the right direction with his new pitch, Charlie Morton made a solid debut, Tyler Matzek continued to round into form and Jackson Stephens had a bounce-back effort after giving up a run in his previous appearance. Atlanta’s going to be off tomorrow but they will be back in action on Thursday at JetBlue Field in Fort Myers, where Bryce Elder will be looking to keep the good times rolling on the mound against the Red Sox.