Atlanta Braves tie 5-5 New York Yankees in 2012 Spring Training - MLB Update
Jason Heyward hits a homer to help Atlanta Braves tie the New York Yankees 5-5 in their Grapefruit League contest at Champion Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida on March 28, 2012.
Yankees were about to experience an easy win at the end of the eighth as they were two runs ahead of Atlanta. Much to the surprise of many, Braves managed to tie in the ninth by scoring two runs.
As ninth inning took off with Braves trailing by two runs, hopes were on their first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had looked in supreme form in last few games.
Just when Freeman drew a walk and brought Heyward on the plate as a result, the Braves experienced a push back as they had been unimpressive in training so far. In an attempt to startle everyone in the stadium, he slammed a homer and levelled the score.
Braves' starter Brandon Beachy showed credentials in the game for staying on the mound for a long time as he threw six innings.
Still far from being able to pitch for the whole game, at-least he appeared right on his way to achieve that milestone.
"I am ready to start going deep because that's what they need from me," Beachy said. "I am trying to get ahead of the batters. I feel like I can go the distance even (Thursday) if I had to."
He struck out two and gave up three runs while being hit six times.
Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez is extremely pleased with Beachy, one of the rare pitchers Atlanta will count on heavily in the season. He intends to see Beachy throwing even more than six innings.
"He gets his pitch count up, but we are going to prod him. The most important thing is to get him past the `shot-down innings' where we start to think about making a change," Manager said of him.
Yankees’ third baseman, Eric Chavez did most of the damage to the Braves as he went 3 for 4 while drawing three RBIs in the process.
Recording a tie against one of stronger sides in Spring Training is not a small achievement for the Braves.
As they have started getting valuable hits from their batters now and their pitchers also pushing their way forward to make an impact, Braves have reason to feel good before entering into the regular season.
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