KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Freddie Freeman was 4 for 4, Andrelton Simmons and Dan Uggla each homered and the Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox 6-3 on Saturday. ADVERTISING KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Freddie Freeman was 4 for 4, Andrelton Simmons
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Freddie Freeman was 4 for 4, Andrelton Simmons and Dan Uggla each homered and the Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox 6-3 on Saturday.
Freeman followed an RBI double in the first inning with three straight singles as he raised his average for the spring to .356.
Freeman hit .319 with 109 RBIs last season and recently signed an eight-year $135 million contract.
“I don’t know if I can ask him for more,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “That was a pretty darn good season he had last year. . If he can keep duplicating it year after year, that contract is going to be cheap.”
Alex Wood allowed one run and six hits over six innings while striking out four. It was the first earned run the left-hander has allowed in 20 innings this spring.
Uggla’s homer was a two-run drive in the fifth inning and Red Sox starter John Lackey was relieved one batter later after allowing five runs and 10 hits. Lackey struck out six.
Uggla, who slumped to .179 last season, leads the Braves this spring with four homers and 12 RBIs. He is batting .262.
STARTING TIME
Braves: Wood, who is now entrenched in the rotation after also pitching out of the bullpen as a rookie, threw 95 pitches on a warm day in his second game against the Red Sox this spring.
“I was battling there a couple of innings, but I felt good,” the second-round draft choice in 2012 said.
“Woody was outstanding,” Gonzalez said. “It was a good test for him.”
Red Sox: Lackey has a 9.49 ERA for three spring starts, but feels that he is on track.
“It’s spring training. I’m not really concerned about a lot right now,” he said. I’m just building up arm strength. I feel fine.”
Lackey has one more spring start and would like to build to 90 pitches. The veteran right-hander threw 83 against the Braves.
“I’d like to go into the season not on a pitch count,” he said.
Rays 3, Orioles 3
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Alex Cobb struck out 12 in seven innings and the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles played to a 3-3, 10-inning tie.
Delmon Young homered, singled and picked a catch off the top of the left field wall with the tying run on base in the eighth inning for the Orioles.
Young led off the second with the first spring home run against Cobb, who gave up six hits in his third start. Cobb struck out the side in the first inning and 67 of 88 pitches for strikes.
James Loney hit his second home run for the Rays in the first inning, driving in the only two runs off Baltimore starter Ubaldo Jiminez.
In his third spring start, Jiminez gave up five hits and a walk in six innings.
Michael Almanzar’s RBI single broke a 2-all tie in the fifth after a leadoff double by Alexi Casilla.
Cardinals 5, Astros 2
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Matt Adams hit a homered among his two hits and drove in three runs, lead the St. Louis Cardinals past the Houston Astros, 5-2.
Michael Wacha gave up two runs in seven innings, his longest outing of the spring. He allowed two runs and struck out eight without allowing a walk.
“I’m pretty happy with how it’s going,” Wacha said. I am just stretching myself out. I’ll be ready in two weeks.”
Brett Oberholtzer, who was named the No. 3 starter in the Astros rotation, allowed five runs in five innings as his ERA rose to 11.00.
Jose Altuve homered for the Astros.
Cardinals projected starting second baseman Kolten Wong, a former University of Hawaii and Kamehameha-Hawaii standout, did not play in Saturday’s game.
Yankees 5, Twins 4
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Masahiro Tanaka struggled a bit in one of his final tuneups for the regular season, allowing three runs while pitching into the sixth inning, but the New York Yankees still beat the Minnesota Twins 5-4 victory.
Facing a close approximation of the Minnesota Twins’ opening-day lineup, Tanaka yielded five hits and a walk in 5 1-3 innings. The high-priced Japanese star walked just one, Joe Mauer in the third inning, and struck out six before a Hammond Stadium sellout crowd of 9,298.
This was the fourth appearance of the spring for Tanaka, who allowed one run in 4 1-3 innings against the Atlanta Braves his previous outing.
Scott Sizemore’s two-run single keyed a four-run fourth for the Yankees, who left most of their regulars back in Tampa.
Pirates 5, Phillies 3
BRADENTON, Fla. — Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Cody Asche each homered but the Pittsburgh Pirates rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rollins and Howard went deep in the first inning against right-hander Stolmy Pimentel. Asche broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning with a long homer to right field.
Pimentel, who will begin the season as the Pirates’ long reliever and spot starter, worked five innings and gave up three runs on six hits. He had three strikeouts.
Phillies right-hander A.J. Burnett pitched 5 1-3 innings against his former team and allowed two runs on seven hits. He walked six and struck out two.
Travis Snider, the front-runner to be the Pirates’ everyday right fielder, went 2 for 4 with one RBI.
Travis Ishikawa, a non-roster player competing to be the backup first baseman, hit a solo homer in the eighth inning to tie it at 3.
Mets 10, Marlins 2
JUPITER, Fla. — Ike Davis and Travis d’Arnaud each hit a two-run homer, leading the New York Mets to a 10-2 rout of a Miami Marlins’ split-squad on Saturday.
Wilmer Flores had a three-run homer among his three hits and drove in four runs, and Chris Young was 3 for 3 for New York.
Mets starter Bartolo Colon allowed two runs and five hits. He struck out three without walking a batter.
