MATT ADAMS RESTS AFTER FEELING DIZZY

For a guy who had only played six previous games in the outfield in a major league stadium — and none in nearly three months — the last thing Matt Adams needed was for the world to start spinning Tuesday in the early innings of his first game in left field for the Braves.

Andthat’swhat happened against the Dodgers, forcing Adams to exit after five innings.

”I think it was a migraine,” Adams said Thursday afternoon, feeling normal for the first time since the incident. “(Wednesday) when I came in, I just looked down at the floor when I was walking because the light was bothering me. My head was just pounding.”

The Braves initially said Adams had dizziness that possibly resulted from a virus. While Adams didn’t dismiss that possibility, he believed the issue was classic symptoms of a migraine, though he had never experienced one before.

“It was no fun, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “They said (dehydration) might have sparked it. But they said there’s a lot of things that could have sparked it. It’s in the past and I feel better today, so that’s all that really matters.”

BravesmanagerBrian Snitker said before Tuesday’s game that Freddie Freeman wasmoving back to first base andAdamswould be the primary left fielder until Matt Kemp returns from the disabled list.

The Braves want to do what they can to keep Adams’ bat in the lineup. He had a .279 average with 15 home runs, 54 RBIs and a robust .562 slugging percentage in 60 games since he was traded to the Braves.

The Cardinals tried him in left field during spring training and for six games (five starts) early this season but weren’t satisfiedenoughwith his defense to keep him in that role. They were using the slugger as a pinch-hitter before trading him to the Braveswhen they needed a temporary replacement for Freeman after he fractured his wrist May 17.

Freeman returned as a third baseman the week before the All-Star break, but that experiment is over.

Adams was looking forward to Thursday batting practice not so he could hit, but rather to take as many fly balls as possible in left field. Alas, batting practice on the field was canceled because of rain.

He wasn’t in the lineup because manager Brian Snitker said he wanted to give him another day to recover. Alsowasn’t a bad day for the left-handed slugger to be out the lineup with the Dodgers throwing an elite left-hander in Alex Wood.

But Adams will be back in the lineup tonight against the Marlins in the opener of a three-game series at SunTrust Park. He plans to be in left field during batting practice, going after as many fly balls as he can.

”The first couple of games of the season in St. Louis, I got thrown out there” in left field, he said. “And one here (at SunTrust Park with the Cardinals). So it’s definitely new again, been a couple of months since I’ve been out there.

“But TP ( bench coach Terry Pendleton) has been good with me out there, telling me what I should do during BP andwhatnot and try to get my reads down.”