ATLANTA (AP) – Joel De La Cruz felt like he belonged as he made his major league debut for Atlanta.
That was because he had been in the majors before, though only as an observer.
De La Cruz allowed three runs in six innings as the Braves fell to the streaking Cleveland Indians 3-0 on Wednesday night.
De La Cruz (0-1) was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game. He didn’t appear in a game in his earlier short stints in Atlanta in April and May.
“Even though I haven’t had the experience the previous times I’ve been called up, I had the confidence from being called up multiple times so I knew that they believed in me,” De La Cruz, from the Dominican Republic, said through a translator. “That helped.”