Alvarado fired a scoreless sixth inning during which he struck out the side and hit a batter in a Grapefruit League loss to the Braves on Saturday.

EDGE Analysis

The reliever had endured a rough landing in his spring debut Wednesday against the Twins, retiring just one batter. That made Saturday's dominant outing, one of the few bright spots in a 12-0 loss for the Rays, a particularly welcome sight. Alvarado threw 18 pitches overall, with 11 finding the strike zone, and Juan Toribio of MLB.com reports the left-hander featured his cutter, sinker and curveball during his one frame. Alvarado's control was appreciably better against Atlanta as well, an important area of focus for him after he posted an 8.1 BB/9 across 35 appearances in 2019.