It took a while but he got there!

Pitching was the theme of the evening at CoolToday Park, as the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins spent most of this exhibition trading scoreless innings with each other. Ian Anderson in particular was responsible for 3.1 of those scoreless innings.

This was basically the quintessential Ian Anderson experience when things are going well for him. Ian Anderson struck out the side in a very impressive display in the first inning but since this is Ian we’re talking about here, he sandwiched in two walks in the process. Still, the Marlins didn’t have much to offer against him and that remained the case in the second inning.

Ian Anderson works around a pair of walks and strikes out the side in the first inning pic.twitter.com/hT2YUk9Wfa

— Gaurav (@gvedak) March 6, 2025

That was when Anderson once again had to deal with a pair of base runners after he hit Otto Lopez with a pitch and then gave up a single to Liam Hicks — both with one out having been recored. Still, Anderson got out of the jam with another strikeout and a ground ball to make it a pair of scoreless innings. It ended up becoming a trio after Anderson got three groundouts to retire the Marlins in order for the third inning.

Despite the fact that he had thrown a lot of pitches (for spring training, at least), Ian Anderson went out for the fourth inning and got a pop out to start things. With that being said, the ol’ Walk Monster reared its ugly head again as Anderson walked a pair of batters back-to-back in the fourth inning before Brian Snitker pulled him for the night. Enyel De Los Santos induced a double play out of Otto Lopez to get out of the inning and ensure that Ian Anderson’s line remained scoreless for the night.

This was the type of performance that, again, if you’ve seen Ian Anderson for an extended period of time then you know what it is. He’s got some nasty stuff that can miss a lot of bats when he’s on but when his control goes, it’s hard for him to find it again. He’s now walked nine batters so far in spring, with four of them coming in this game alone. Still, the four strikeouts were really nice to see and it was also good to see him out there for an extended period of time. He’s continuing to make his case!

In other news, if you were watching this game for some offensive fireworks then you were left wanting and left waiting for the bats to come alive. Atlanta had something going against Ryan Weathers in the first inning but that appears less like it was the Braves doing something and more about Weathers struggling mightily to find the strike zone. The first three batters for the Braves all reached base via walk to lead off the game, so it was easy to envision this inning getting out of hand. Instead, Weathers got Ozuna to pop out and then sat in the dugout while Nigel Belgrave cleaned up the rest of the mess that he left behind.

Weathers re-entered the game in the second inning and clamped down immediately, as he proceeded to sit down the final six Braves batters that he faced. Adam Mazur entered the game after Weathers and extended the streak to eight batters. Only Ozzie Albies was able to deliver a combo breaker by taking a walk with two out in the fourth. In fact, walks were the complete extent of offensive damage that the Braves regulars did in tonight’s game — Jurickson Profar, Austin RIley, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies each picked up a walk and went 0-for the night. Additionally, Marcell Ozuna, Michael Harris II, Orlando Arcia and Jarred Kelenic all were unable to reach base in tonight’s game.

In fact, not a single Braves hitter reached base until the seventh inning but it was a biggie — Eli White hit an opposite-field home run (that he didn’t know was a home run until after he slid into third base) not only give the Braves their first hit and run of the game but it also broke the scoreless deadlock. Atlanta’s pitching staff was just as frustrating to deal with as Miami’s was — we got to see Raisel Iglesias strike out one batter on his way to pitching a very quick single inning of work (despite picking up a walk along the way) and Buck Farmer threw 1.1 innings and racked up a pair of strikeouts while he was out there, as well.

Buck Farmer's slider was his best pitch of 2024 with a run value of 4. He shows why with this strikeout pic.twitter.com/InB9T2zzIh

— Gaurav (@gvedak) March 7, 2025

Eli White’s hone run ended up being the lone piece of real offense for the Braves in this one, as the Braves ended up adding another draw to their record in Grapefruit League action. Most importantly, nobody got hurt and the pitching looked pretty solid today — with Ian Anderson in particular continuing to make it happen without giving up any runs. Hopefully Reynaldo López will follow suit (and hopefully we’ll see some more action at the plate) when the Braves return to spring training action tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET.