Ozzie Albies, Max Fried lead Braves past Cardinals

The Braves looked like their old selves for the second straight night, trouncing the Cardinals 9-1 Friday at Truist Park. They’ve taken the first two of a four-game series against their out-of-division rivals.

Here are five takeaways from Friday:

1. The Braves attacked Carlos Martinez early, scoring five runs in the first two innings. First baseman Freddie Freeman and third baseman Austin Riley had RBI singles. Catcher William Contreras homered. To top it off, second baseman Ozzie Albies blasted a two-run shot to the Chop House to give the Braves a 5-1 advantage.

2. The Braves kept piling on with a four-run fourth that started when outfielder Ronald Acuna was hit by a pitch for the second time by Martinez. Freeman and Albies followed with singles (the latter of which found a soft spot in shallow left field), ending Martinez’s outing. Abraham Almonte singled off Cardinals reliever Jake Woodford to score Freeman. Riley’s sacrifice fly produced the Braves’ ninth run.

“It’s good to see how these guys compartmentalize and come in every day and prepare and play a new game,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I told them, ‘I don’t care how bad you’re going or whatever, I always kind of feel like today’s the day you’re going to start something really good.’ To me, that’s the way they approach it. I admire this team. I respect them just for the day-in, day-out grind that they do and how they consistently approach every day with their work ethic and then how they play the game.”

3. Albies finished a triple shy of the cycle. He went 3-for-5 with a homer, double, three RBIs and three runs scored.

“It’s amazing what he does,” Snitker said. “I mean, you get the track record. It just impresses me how consistent he stays. There’s no emotional ups and downs. It’s just an even keel, professional approach all the time. If it doesn’t go his way, you’d never know it. He flushes that at-bat and gets ready for the next one. It’s a really professional approach that the kid has.”

4. After allowing a run in the first frame, Braves lefty Max Fried settled down and pitched seven innings, allowing just the one run on two hits. He struck out six and walked two.

It was the second consecutive strong start for the Braves after Charlie Morton held the Cardinals scoreless over 7-2/3 innings a day earlier.

“Charlie definitely set the tone last night with attacking guys and keeping a good pace,” Fried said. “I felt like I kind of got out of it a little bit in the first and just wanted to get back on the attack, throw strikes. And that was the game plan, especially when we scored a couple runs. I was just trying to get us back in the dugout as quick as possible. So we could hopefully keep that rhythm and keep putting up runs.”

5. Acuna extended his on-base streak to 26 games, moving him closer to his career-best run of 32 straight games on base. Freeman extended his hitting streak to eight games.

Stat to know

5-1/2 (Just as the Braves started slipping out of the National League East race, they gained two games in two days. They trail the Mets by 5-1/2 games with a four-game series looming next week in Queens.)

Quotable

“Oh, great. Great. It’s something fun. It’s enjoyable. Something you’re not gonna never forget in your life. It’s amazing.” - Albies when asked what a second career All-Star nod would mean to him.

Attendance

The Braves announced a sell-out crowd of 40,377. It was the Braves’ fourth crowd to exceed 40,000 people since the team returned to 100% capacity May 7.

Up next

Left-hander Drew Smyly (3-3, 5.63) starts for the Braves Saturday against Cardinals righty and Brunswick native Adam Wainwright (4-5, 3.95).