Braves greats help celebrate opening of new SunTrust Park

It was a night of firsts for the Braves when they opened SunTrust Park to the public for the first time during the regular season.

The news was delivered by team executives Mike Plant and Derek Schiller, and the announcement sent shock waves throughout baseball and the southeast: the Braves were moving out of Turner Field, to a new stadium in Cobb County.

Fireworks before and after the main event. A gentle, understated delivery of the national anthem by Phillip Phillips, the former American Idol victor from Albany, Ga.

Cahill is scheduled to start in Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Braves.

So did stars of 14 straight division titles and the 1995 World Series: John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones and skipper Bobby Cox. “I’ve been to a lot of parks and I think it has a little bit of the feel of PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Camden Yards in Baltimore with the green seats and the brick”. “I was born 10 years too early”.

As a consolation, Alldrink did offer some faint praise to the Braves’ new headquarters: “I like it better than Turner Field”.

“It’s just kind of cool to be pitching in a new ballpark like this”. The guys were excited, getting out there and playing, just getting off the road and getting home. “I love it. I was just trying to be relaxed and have a good time out there”.

Colon was 15-8 with a 3.43 ERA for the Mets last season before signing with the Braves as a free agent, but was hit hard in a start at Miami last August.

CINCINNATI – Jesse Winker doubled home the go-ahead runs with his first major league hit, and Cincinnati overcame two more homers by Eric Thames for a win over Milwukee. It’s not like I’m trying to hit home runs, but I’m trying to put the right swing on the right pitch, and I’ve been able to do it. Of course to top it off, the Braves beat the Padres 5 to 2.

Julio Teheran: The Braves’ ace went six innings, striking out five and walking four while giving up two runs on five hits, in picking up his first decision of the season. Aaron had a nice underhand toss, and the crowd loved seeing him out there.

The Braves also made a move before game, calling up right-hander Luke Jackson from Triple-A Gwinnett and sending down right-hander Jason Hursh.

Inciarte caught the first out of the game (on the first pitch of the game), then got the first hit, scored the first run and, to put an exclamation point on things, hit the stadium’s first home run in the sixth inning to give the Braves a 5-2 lead.

The center fielder also recorded the first out, had the first hit and scored the first run at SunTrust Park, ensuring he’ll be the answer to a lot of trivia questions.

Knoxville native Michael Noce was certainly happy to visit the new park for the opener.

Despite living in the Atlanta area for much of his adult life, he has ushered at Tennessee football games at Neyland Stadium for more than 40 years. “But I had to see this place”. Now, he’ll get the nod in the second game at SunTrust Park. There were some reported issues with Uber though; several reports surfaced of the app not working in the vicinity of the stadium before the game, causing many to hail cabs. “It’s like a small town”.