CHICAGO – Max Fried spent two weeks with the Braves in August and made four relief appearances, which might help him deal with the charged atmosphere that awaits the young left-hander Sunday afternoon in his first major league start.
The Braves will start Fried in Sunday’s series finale against the defending World Series-champion Cubs in front of what likely will be a typically sold-out and energized crowd at Wrigley Field.
“With the time he had here previously there won’t be big culture shock or anything like that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I mean, it’s got to be exciting for anybody to come to Wrigley Field and make their first start. It’s going to be exciting for a kid like that to be able to pitch here.”
Fried, 23, will get the start to avoid the Braves using either Julio Teheran or R.A. Dickey on short rest after the two veterans started and went deep into their games in Wednesday’s doubleheader at Philadelphia.
Fried, one of the Braves’ bevy of top starting-pitcher prospects, was called up directly from Double-A to the majors in early August to get “acclimated” to the majors. He posted a 5.40 ERA in four relief appearances, including two impressive outings before a rough one Aug. 16 at Coors Field. Three of the four earned runs he allowed in 6 2/3 innings came during that 2 2/3-inning appearance against the Rockies, as did three of the seven hits he allowed and half of his six walks.
Dickey might normally have been a good candidate to go on short rest, but the 43-year-old knuckleballer pitched season-highs of eight innings and 121 pitches in a 9-1 win against the Phillies. Teheran threw 109 pitches in a 5-2 win in the second game of doubleheader.
Fried, after he was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett on Aug. 23, pitched four scoreless innings of one-hit ball in an Aug. 24 start, then was taken out after two perfect innings in his next start Wednesday. Taken out because the Braves thought they might need him back in the big leagues Sunday.
“He pitched briefly the other day because we weren’t sure (if would need starter Sunday),” Snitker said. “We decided to not bring back either of the guys (back on short rest) that pitched in the doubleheader. R.A. got stretched out pretty good in that game; we weren’t worried about Sunday in that game. It’ll be fine. We added some guys in the bullpen, so we’ve got a lot of arms.”
On Friday, the first day rosters could be expanded beyond 25, the Braves activated relievers Luke Jackson and lefty Ian Krol from the disabled list and recalled lefty reliever Rex Brothers from Triple-A. Reliever Jason Motte went back on the DL with a strained oblique, four weeks after returning from a previous one-month DL stint for a strained back.
