Smithers Lights Up Pirate Stadium as Stars Shine Bright!
The Braves only needed three pitchers, all Opening Day roster candidates, to shut out the Phillies in Spring Training.
NORTH PORT, FL- FEBRUARY 22: JR Ritchie #92 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during a spring training game against the Minnesota Twins on February 22, 2026 at CoolToday Park in North Port, Florida. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) | Getty Images Today’s recap is going to be a short and sweet, as this game was light on action and light on Braves’ roster candidates, as Jose Suarez got the start, to be followed by JR Ritchie. Suarez looked pretty good by his standards, striking out 3, walking 2, and accruing 10 whiffs over 4.
0+ scoreless innings and 61 pitches thrown. He allowed 4 batted balls over 95 MPH, two of which were ground balls. Overall a strong outing for Jose.
Joel Payamps took over for Jose in the fifth after Jose gave up a leadoff single. After a bunt hit and a soft flyout, Payamps stuck out Marsh and Bohm to end the inning. JR Ritchie entered the game in the sixth and hit Adolis Garcia to start his outing.
Ritchie settled in after that, inducing a soft flyout and striking out two, ending the inning. He carried that momentum into the second inning, striking out the first two batters and ending the inning with a Trea Turner pop-out. It was more of the same for the last two innings, as Ritchie ended his outing with 4.