LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – He's been a 20-game winner, a three-time All-Star, pitched in six postseasons and recently seen himself portrayed on the big screen in the movie "Moneyball."
But Tim Hudson was nonetheless charged up to pitch two innings in a noon exhibition game Monday against the Mets on the last day of the Braves' spring-training schedule. It was the 36-year-old's first game in four months since major back surgery.
"I was excited," said Hudson, who allowed one groundball single and no runs with two strikeouts in the first two innings of an 8-2 Braves loss at Champion Stadium. "I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't a little bit nervous. Anxious to get out there. Took me a little while to catch my breath in that first inning. I guess I'm only human."
If he was nervous or rusty, it didn't show. The right-hander recorded four groundouts and two strikeouts. He threw 16 strikes in 25 pitches and gave the Braves plenty of reason to believe he will be back as good as ever.
"Outstanding," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It was nice to see, even though the game didn't go as we wanted it to."
Hudson is scheduled to make five or six rehab starts for Class-A Rome and Triple-A Gwinnett before coming off the disabled list in the last week of April or beginning of May. He will start for Rome on Saturday at Charleston (S.C.) and then, barring any change in plans, will pitch Rome's home opener on April 12.
The Braves will need fifth starter Randall Delgado to make three or possibly four starts while Hudson is on the DL.
"I felt good, totally normal," said Hudson. "After the first inning, that's the first time I've sat down for a time and then tried to crank it back up. It felt pretty normal. Took me a little while to get my warmups going, but after my warmups I was good to go."
He struck out the first batter he faced, Ruben Tejada, then surrendered a Josh Thole single before retiring the next five in order, including a Lucas Duda strikeout and three groundouts to shortstop Tyler Pastornicky in the second inning.
Hudson said he didn't worry about his back and threw all his repertoire of pitches.
"Threw some cutters, threw a curveball, had a strikeout in the first inning with my split," he said. "I felt pretty good, man. I feel like I was throwing pretty much everything where I wanted it. I feel like my arm strength can get better, but it's still early for me."
He had lumbar spine-fusion surgery Nov. 28 and couldn't resume throwing until late January. But he's been in camp for all of spring training, gradually increasing his workload until he began throwing batting practice a couple of weeks ago.
"I've been here for six weeks, and even though I'm just now getting in games I feel like I'm in decent shape," Hudson said. "Now it's just a matter of building my innings up. I feel better right now in this first spring training game than I normally do in my first spring training game. [Because] normally I'm only here for 10 days to two weeks and I'm in a game."
He will increase his innings by one with each start, beginning with three innings Saturday at Charleston.
Heyward rests after leg cramp
Jason Heyward was out of the lineup Monday as expected, a day after being removed in the fourth inning with cramping in his upper left leg. Gonzalez said after Sunday's game that it was a minor matter but that he would rest Heyward on Monday as a precaution.
Gonzalez expects to start Heyward and most or all of his other lineup regulars in Tuesday's exhibition game against Braves prospects at Triple-A Gwinnett's Coolray Field. He said Heyward would probably bat twice.
Heyward is 6-for-16 with two homers and a double in his past six games, and singled off Phillies lefty Cliff Lee in his only plate appearance Sunday.
Chipper BP at Gwinnett
A week into his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery, Chipper Jones will rejoin the Braves in Atlanta and probably take batting practice before the Braves vs. "Future Stars" game Tuesday at Gwinnett.
The third baseman will begin the season on the 15-day DL and hopes to be back for the Brave's home opener April 13 vs. Milwaukee. He will accompany the team on its opening trip to New York and Houston, but could leave for a brief minor-league rehab assignment at some point on the week-long trip.
Francisco 0-for-4 in debut
Juan Francisco started at third base for Atlanta and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts, after being traded from the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday and flying from Phoenix to Orlando to join the Braves for their Grapefruit League finale….
Brandon Beachy was charged with seven hits, and four runs in six innings, including Ruben Tejada's three-run homer in the fifth inning. Beachy (1-2) finished the spring with a 5.54 ERA. Beachy came into the game in the third inning so that Hudson could start.
Beachy will start the fourth game of the season April 8, a series opener at Houston….
Freddie Freeman's sixth-inning home run was the first baseman's seventh homer of spring training, moving him into a tie with Pittsburgh's Matt Hague for the National League lead. Freeman finished the major league portion of the exhibition schedule by hitting five homers in 24 official at-bats in his last eight games….
Martin Prado returned to the lineup after missing two starts to rest sore legs, the result of a stretch in which he started and played almost the entire way in seven of eight games, and also worked out extensively including weightlifting with his legs. Prado has been playing third base in Jones' absence, but moved back to left field Monday with the arrival of Francisco.
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