MILWAUKEE — Max Fried on Friday completed his latest rehab start.
Now, we wait to see if it was his last before returning to the Braves’ starting rotation.
“We’ll just get him through (Friday) and then go from there,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said ahead of Friday’s series opener at the Brewers. “... We’ll see how he comes out of (his start) and determine the next step after that.”
Pitching in the first game of Triple-A Gwinnett’s doubleheader versus Norfolk, Fried allowed three runs on six hits over 3-1/3 innings. He served up two home runs. Fried struck out five batters and didn’t walk any.
The Braves planned for Fried to throw around 60 pitches, and he hurled 65. Of them, 46 were strikes.
It’s possible that Fried will need another rehab start. If he does not, he would be on regular rest to start Wednesday’s game in Boston. Of course, the Braves will continue to operate with caution as their ace returns from a forearm strain.
How much input will Fried have in his next step?
“I think Max understands that (the medical team) knows what they’re doing, and he’s gonna follow what they have planned for him,” Snitker said. “They trust what Max thinks. I don’t think he would disagree with anything that they have planned for him.”
On July 9, Fried made his first rehab start. He allowed one hit and issued two walks over 1-1/3 innings. He also struck out a batter. He threw 35 pitches.
On July 15, he started for High-A Rome and struck out three batters, with no walks, over three scoreless frames. He tossed 30 pitches.
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Credit: Curtis Compton / Curtis.Compton@
Darius Vines progressing on rehab assignment
Braves fans who follow the team closely perhaps wonder where Darius Vines has been, as he’s on the 40-man roster and could’ve been a candidate to get called up this season. (He still might be.)
Out of spring training, Vines hit the minor-league injured list because he had right shoulder inflammation in spring.
Now, he’s on a rehab assignment.
He made his first appearance on June 30, for the Florida Complex League Braves. He pitched twice for them. On Friday, he made his second start for High-A Rome and allowed three runs over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out nine batters and walked three.
In four appearances between those two levels, Vines has a 2.40 ERA over 15 innings. He has 21 strikeouts.
Vines could be sent to Gwinnett for his next start.
An impressive stat
The Braves won Thursday, which snapped a four-game losing streak. Their longest losing streaks this season have all been four-game skids.
In fact, they haven’t lost five in a row since Sept. 25-30, 2017. The Braves are the only team in the majors without a five-game losing streak since the start of the 2018 season. And coincidentally, they have won six straight NL East titles since then.
That is remarkable consistency.
“Going through what they’ve been through, all their experiences over the last few years,” Snitker said of the key in that. “Just kind of how they go about it. They’re all about today. And how they prepare. I don’t think they get too high, too low.”
Sunday was Atlanta’s 803rd game since the end of its last five-game losing streak. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Braves’ current number of games between five-game skids is the third most in baseball history. The Yankees went 1,243 games between five-game losing streaks from 1930 to 1938, and then had 877 games between such skids from 1946 to 1952.
