The Braves and Nationals have a doubleheader looming Tuesday in Washington, the start of an important four-game series.
The visiting team will start Max Fried and Sean Newcomb in those games, manager Brian Snitker said Saturday. The Nationals starters are unannounced, though it appears it likely will be Max Scherzer and Jefry Rodriguez, according to a report from the Washington Post.
Newcomb will pitch on an extra three days’ rest following his 134-pitch outing Sunday, in which he lost a no-hitter against the Dodgers with two out in the ninth. The lefty has benefited from extra rest throughout his break-through season.
Since going three innings in Milwaukee on July 5, Fried has made one major-league start. He went five innings July 28, striking out seven and holding the Dodgers to one run.
Fried is available out of the bullpen in an emergency. Kevin Gausman started Saturday’s game in New York, with Julio Teheran scheduled to pitch the Sunday finale. The Braves are off Monday.
If Fried was required, the team would pivot another direction. Kolby Allard, who made his major-league debut earlier this week, is scheduled to pitch Tuesday in Triple-A.
“But we’ve got to get there first,” Snitker said. “If something happened and we had to use Max, we’d have to just audible.”
