Max Fried was solid through six innings before the weather took care of the rest of the game in Atlanta’s 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at SunTrust Park on Thursday.
Fried was 2-1 in his last three decisions and had been consistent in striking batters out, averaging just over seven in that span. But both the Phillies (on July 27) and Marlins (on July 15) had gotten the best of him, scoring five runs apiece. Thursday featured one of Fried’s better performances, even if it was short due to the rain, thunder and lightning in Cobb County that forced officials to call the game after an hour and 46 minutes of delay.
Fried threw 76 pitches and was credited with the win. He gave up four hits with one run and struck out four. But, he also wasn’t necessarily ready to stop.
“Yeah, it was a little unfortunate,” Fried said of the early exit. “The pitch count was still down, I was feeling good, so I was excited about getting back out there. But, you take it and you take the win.”
Fried mentioned his goal today was to ensure his off-speed pitches were low. He wanted to focus on his location on pitches rather than trying to “muscle up” and just throw hard.
The newly acquired relief pitchers in Mark Melancon, Chris Martin and Shane Greene were the focus around the clubhouse before the game but they weren’t needed Thursday night. Still, Fried is excited about what they could bring to the bullpen.
“You’ve got three really experienced guys that are good at what they do,” Fried said. “They seem really excited to be here and just kind of ready to get this thing rolling.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker was pleased with Fried’s performance, calling it a “really efficient, nice outing.” Snitker and first basemen Freddie Freeman were also optimistic about Fried’s performance, framing it as something that’s needed for more wins down the stretch.
“You’re not going to win without your starters, as much bullpen help that you want to get, if a starter goes five (innings), it’s hard to cover three (to) four innings every night, those guys will get tired as well,” Freeman said.
But on Thursday, Freeman knew from the beginning that it would be a solid night for his starting pitcher.
“You knew he had it going tonight, everything was working, you could tell,” Freeman said. “Everything was moving, everything was great tonight.”
