The Atlanta Braves have a battle for the fifth spot in the rotation as the regular season approaches. Dylan Dodd followed Shuster’s outstanding outing with one of his own against the Phillies on Saturday.

Dodd was hit hard in the first inning. He gave up a homer in the first at-bat. Dodd put the first pitch high and inside which Marsh fouled off. Dodd then kept the ball low and away until he had a 3-2 count and served a meatball up over the heart. Marsh took him deep to give Dodd his first earned run of the spring.

After a quick flyout from Alec Bohm, Dodd hung one to the red-hot Darick Hall , who ripped one off the wall.

Dylan Dodd’s stuff is not as sharp as Jared Shuster’s. Dodd’s best attribute is his control. Two mistakes in the first inning resulted in two hard-hit balls but Dodd did a good job of regrouping and shutting the Phillies down the rest of his outing.

Dodd finished with 4.2 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB

The walks were the first two of Dodd’s spring. He didn’t have his normal control last night but he was still effective at changing speeds and keeping hitters off balance.

Atlanta Braves: Other Pitching Notes

Kirby Yates continues his quest to return to the form that made him the saves leader in 2019 with 46. Yates pitched one inning and struck out the side while walking one.

Joe Jimenez had a clean inning with one strikeout. Lucas Luetge struck out the side in the eighth.

Atlanta Braves: Offense Scores Five

Michael Harris II had a nice catch in center and a stunning groundball up the middle that he turned into an easy double.

Vaughn Grissom followed Harris’ sixth inning double up by flashing his speed in beating out a groundball to shortstop.

Orlando Arcia reminded everyone of his veteran presence amid the shortstop debate between Braden Shewmake and Vaughn Grissom. Arcia crushed a sixth-inning two-run homer off Mark Appel. Arcia finished 2-3 on the night with 3 RBI.

Austin Riley brought his average to .292 with an RBI-double. Travis d’Arnaud continued to struggle this spring going 0-3 with three strikeouts, although he made solid contact tonight. Matt Olson earned two walks bringing his spring OBP to .484.

Sam Hilliard finished with a hit and a walk bringing his average to .375 on the season. Kevin Pillar finished 0-3 with two strikeouts and left four on. Pillar is now hitting just .194 on the spring.

The Braves (10-9) face the Minnesota Twin (8-11) at 1:05 pm today. Max Fried will bring his 0.00 ERA in to face Kenta Maeda.