As Max Fried walked off the mound with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, the crowd gave him a well-deserved standing ovation. Fried looked to the left, then slowly turned his head to the right. He took it all in.
If this was his final start at Truist Park as a Brave, it was quite memorable.
Fried held the Royals scoreless over 8 2/3 innings in the Braves’ 3-0 win over Kansas City on Friday. Fried came an out away from his second shutout and third complete game of the season.
Coming into the night, everyone remained aware of the obvious: Fried, a free agent at season’s end, could be making his final start on the mound. Even if the Braves make the postseason, there’s no guarantee they’d advance out of the wild-card round and host games in October.
But Fried, the Braves and their fans maintain hope that Atlanta will see him again here in the postseason. The Braves look more likely than ever to make it.
The Brewers defeated the Mets and Arizona lost to the Padres, so the Braves, Mets and Diamondbacks are tied in the wild-card standings with two playoff spots up for grabs. But the Braves and Mets have four games each left to play while Arizona has only two.
The Orioles beat the Twins, which put the Royals in the postseason. The Royals are a game behind the Tigers for the second wild-card spot, so they could fight for seeding, but them clinching might mean they put less into the final two games against Atlanta.
Five observations:
1. As Fried looked around at the crowd that roared for him when he walked off the mound, he tipped his cap toward the fans – the universal sign of appreciation from a pitcher.
And after Raisel Iglesias recorded the game’s final out and the Braves formed the handshake line, Fried stood on the mound and looked out toward the crowd in the outfield. He took a deep breath.
“Just more of thanking the fans for pushing us,” Fried said of what he was thinking in that moment after the game. “They motivate us a lot and make us dig deeper when we might not think that we have it. But the belief and the energy helps lift us to do different things that a lot of the times we didn’t think that we could do. In that moment, just being able to acknowledge them a little bit and just say thanks.”
It could be the final time he has the chance to thank these fans – the ones who have supported him since he debuted in 2017. They have seen his best, his worst and everything in between. By winning Game 6 of the World Series, he gave them the World Series they so coveted.
There is a special history between Fried and Braves fans.
After the game, a still-exhausted Fried sat in front of reporters. He said it crossed his mind that this could be his final start at Truist Park, though he hopes for a deep postseason run. Shortly after, his manager, Brian Snitker, said that, before the game, he also thought about how it might be Fried’s last outing in front of these fans.
And as Fried exited – perhaps for the final time here – the crowd of 36,212 saluted him with a standing ovation.
“That was a great ovation for a great pitcher,” said Snitker, who heard it from the mound during the pitching change.
“He deserved all of it, and maybe some more,” said Sean Murphy, who caught Fried’s masterpiece.
2. When Fried entered the dugout at 74 pitches after seven innings, he told Snitker he felt good. When he went back in at 83 pitches after eight innings, he echoed the sentiment.
“I’m good,” he said. “I want this.”
And Snitker gave him the opportunity to earn it. Though Fried fell an out shy, his performance set the tone for this final five-game stretch that will decide the Braves’ postseason fate.
Fried gave up three hits. He struck out nine. He walked two. Before the ninth, he seemed unbeatable. Before the ninth inning, the Royals got a man to second base only twice.
In the fifth, with a man on second, Fried retired the next two batters. In the seventh, he gave up a double but recorded consecutive outs to avoid damage.
“He was on a mission,” Snitker said.
Fried knew the situation.
“I would say that, you know coming into it exactly what you need to do,” Fried said. “We had to win this game. I just wanted to make sure that I just left everything out there. Obviously, I just came off, so I’m still a little exhausted. But you know that this is a big game and we need to win, and we need to win every single game for the rest of the year, so I just wanted to make sure I put my best foot forward.”
3. Murphy entered Friday batting .196. It’s been a tough season offensively for him. But this is the time of year where that goes out the window. The Braves need to win all of these games, and it doesn’t matter who helps them do so.
In the fourth, Murphy, down 0-2, launched a laser over the left-field wall for a two-run homer off Royals starter Brady Singer.
“That was good, too,” Murphy said. “I think that’s about all (Fried) needed tonight. He didn’t need much. That was one of the better versions of Max we’ve seen this year.”
More help came in the eighth, when Marcell Ozuna stole third – yes, you read that correctly – and scored on an errant throw. It was Ozuna’s first stolen base of the year and the 29th of a big-league career that began in 2013.
It gave Fried and the Braves a third run of support. It allowed Snitker to give his bullpen – other than one pitch from Iglesias – a third consecutive day of rest.
How momentous was the stolen base for Ozuna?
Well, Calvin Minasian – the Braves’ director of equipment and clubhouse services – gave Ozuna the base. Ozuna had it by his locker. He wants his teammates to sign it. He’ll keep it at his home, and it’ll be a nice keepsake.
And, no, neither third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo nor Snitker called for a stolen base. “I was just going on my own,” Ozuna said. But he did give Tuiasosopo some warning, in one way. Ozuna rubbed his legs.
“I said, ‘I’m ready, my legs are ready. I relaxed a couple days, so let me go,’” Ozuna said.
4. To his teammates, Fried is special.
“Oh my God, he’s amazing,” Ozuna said. “Especially when the end of the season is coming, he’s turning it around. He’s a different person out there on the mound. For me, I’ve never doubted him. He’s one of the best. … He’s an amazing person. He goes out there and grinds and battles in every single outing.”
Fried took care of business for the Braves, which was the first step. The help they received from others wouldn’t have mattered as much if they hadn’t won.
What is the commonality in all of Fried’s gems?
“The link between mental – just your mental thoughts and what you’re visualizing – and syncing up with what your physical is able to do,” Fried said. “A lot of the times, I know exactly what I wanna do and I’m able to visualize that, but sometimes your body is just not firing at the exact same way. And tonight, just happened to be really synced up and felt really good, and the times that I did kind of fall out of it a little bit, I was able to get right back on track.”
5. On Thursday, the Braves – including Snitker, president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos, and others – met to decide on a pitching plan for these final games. They talked it through with their pitchers.
Fried’s message was simple.
“Just tell me when I’m gonna throw the ball,” he recalled saying. “Tell me when I’m gonna get the ball.”
He was the first man up. He succeeded.
Now, it’s Reynaldo López’s turn. The Braves will reinstate him from the injured list for Saturday’s game. López hasn’t pitched since Sept. 10 due to right shoulder inflammation, but he’s ready to go.
How far into the game could he go?
“We talked to him about that,” Snitker said before Friday’s game. “He’s confident he can make and go a regular start. You have to just kind of gauge that, too, with stressful innings, where’s he at – I think he’ll show (us).”
But after their two-day layoff due to the hurricane, Fried gave the Braves momentum.
He’s expressed his love for the Braves organization and its fans. The fans love him back.
How interested would he be in staying here long-term?
“I guess I would say that I don’t know what the future holds,” Fried said, “but this is really all I know and I love it.”
Stat to know
2.40 - Since Fried debuted in 2017, his 2.40 ERA in the month of September is the third-lowest mark among pitchers with at least 140 innings pitched in the month. San Francisco’s Blake Snell (2.09) and Baltimore’s Corbin Burnes (2.33) are the only pitchers better than Fried in this category.
Quotable
“This is what we play for – meaningful baseball in September. We got a really great group in there that believes and is extremely talented. I’m confident that we’re gonna be winning a lot of games and getting to the playoffs.” - Fried
Up next
Saturday’s game begins at 7:20 p.m.
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