They both pitched three innings and the Marlins couldn’t touch either of them today.
Both Ian Anderson and Grant Holmes brought the heat to the ballpark today — they both looked very good as each of them pitched three great innings for the Atlanta Braves against the Miami Marlins in spring training action today.
Anderson got the ball to start today’s contest and it was obvious that the focus was on making sure that there weren’t as many walks this time around. While Anderson did end up walking Kyle Stowers with one out, he was able to wipe out the damage with a double play ball to get out of the first inning scoreless. The second inning went by pretty quickly as Ian sat down the Marlins in order and while he did walk Max Acosta to lead off the third inning, another double play and a lineout ended the threat right then.
Once Ian Anderson was done for the day, he had three hitless and scoreless innings under his belt. He did walk the two batters but again, he was able to get a double play ball immediately afterwards in both cases in order to eliminate the danger. This was definitely an improvement over what he looked like in his spring debut earlier, which is absolutely a positive development as he looks to snatch himself a spot in the rotation.
Another candidate for a spot in the rotation is Grant Holmes — although he’s already shown willingness to help the team in any pitching capacity, whether that’s as a starter or a reliever. Either way, today Holmes was given a chance to shine and he took that chance and ran with it. Holmes’ first inning of work saw him retire the Marlins in order while picking up a strikeout along the way. He followed that up with another 1-2-3 inning in the fifth before capping off his day with another scoreless inning.
Now granted, the third inning of work for Holmes was certainly an interesting one as he did end up walking two batters and conceding a stolen base while he was out there for that particular frame. He was able to stay out of trouble by racking up a pair of strikeouts on his way to making sure that the Marlins stayed out of both the “Hit” and the “Run” categories up to that point. Results-wise, this was exactly what you want to see from Grant Holmes as he continues to get ready to contribute to the main roster in any given capacity this season.
Grant Holmes has indeed added in a kick changeup!
Holmes has been given the opportunity to crack the Braves opening day rotation, and it looks like he is making all the right changes. He fired off 3 scoreless IP today while looking the part of a starter https://t.co/xroUallo67 pic.twitter.com/u5I5pVnPuL
— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) February 28, 2025
On the other side of things, the Braves predictably didn’t have a great time out there while Sandy Alcantara was pitching. Alcantara pitched a couple of scoreless innings while striking out three Braves batters on the day. With that being said, he did give up a couple of hits while he was out there and one of the guys to get the hit was none other than top prospect Drake Baldwin.
That was the first of three hits on the day for Baldwin — his third and final hit came in the sixth inning when his RBI single made it a 4-0 game in favor of the Braves. Baldwin ended up going 3-for-4 on the day with two RBIs to boot, so this was definitely a productive day as far as spring results go for Baldwin.
Things got better for Atlanta’s offense once Alcantara was done pitching for the day following the second inning. This is where Drake Baldwin picked up his second hit and first RBI of the game, as he bounced one to left field to put the Braves on the board. Rule 5 draftee Christian Cairo had two hits and a walk, and his second inning walk came with the bases loaded to make it 2-0. Nick Allen was the leadoff hitter in this one and he had two hits, a walk and an RBI to his name once the game was over with.
The only regular in the lineup was Sean Murphy, who was hitting directly in front of Drake Baldwin and started as the catcher today. Murphy went 0-for-2 at the plate but he did pick up a walk, so there’s that. Ultimately, the Braves ended up putting up a handful of runs on their way to a 7-2 spring training win.
Ian Anderson and Grant Holmes both should feel pretty good about how today’s action went. You can’t do a lot better than keeping the opposition scoreless and hitless while you’re out there and for the two of them to combine on a no-no for six innings was good to see. Drake Baldwin also looked impressive as well as he looks to try to justify the growing excitement surrounding his eventual arrival to The Show. We’ll get another chance to see the Braves in action tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. ET as the Braves host the Blue Jays.
