Max Fried dominates Cubs as Atlanta Braves earn 9-2 win

Max Fried pitched his second complete game of the season and while it wasn’t a shutout, the offense made sure his performance was more than good enough for a win as the Atlanta Braves eventually earned a 9-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.

This game started off fairly leisurely as both teams traded scoreless innings for the first two frames. Neither team managed a hit until the third inning, when Michael Harris II broke the monotony with a single. If that wasn’t enough for you, Adam Duvall made things even louder by taking a Justin Steele fastball that was high and barely in the zone and quickly depositing it into the bushes in the batter’s eye to carry the score at 2-0 Braves. at the moment.

The scoring stopped for both teams for a while after that, as the Braves continued to sputter at the plate. Meanwhile, Max Fried was in “Maximum” mode tonight as he was literally untouchable for the first five innings of this one. Unfortunately for Fried and the Braves, things changed in the bottom of the sixth inning. That’s when Ian Happ ended the no-hitter with a leadoff double. Happ reached third base after a one-out wild pitch from Fried, then finally headed home on a productive groundout from Miguel Amaya. The score ended there for Chicago, but at 2-1 for the Braves, it was clear that Atlanta needed to put some space between themselves and the Cubs if they wanted to ensure that Fried’s performance didn’t be not vain.

Boy, oh boy, have the Braves ever put some space between themselves and the Cubs or something? It started with Orlando Arcia hitting a double off the wall to lead off half of Atlanta’s seventh inning, then advancing to third base on a ground ball from Michael Harris II. Adam Duvall was hit by a pitch immediately after the productive out, meaning Zack Short had an opportunity to do some damage with just one out. Zack Short is by far the least imposing hitter in this lineup, so he fell back on a tactic that ended up working perfectly for him: the squeeze bunt.

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Short’s short hit made the score 3-1 for the Braves and, given the way things have been going recently, it would have been understandable to believe that that was all the scoring the Braves would be capable of that night. Instead, it was just the beginning. Jose Cuas entered the game in relief of Justin Steele after the bunt and Ronald Acuña Jr. welcomed him to the game with a bunt to load the bases. Ozzie Albies then made sure Adam Duvall came home by hitting a sacrifice fly to the opposite field to make it 4-1 for the Braves. Again, it would have been completely understandable to think that would have been the extent of the Braves’ scoring in that inning and likely for the rest of the night.

Luckily for us, Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson both had other ideas. Cuas made a nightmarish mistake and left an 82 mph sweeper right in the middle of the zone for Ozuna to feast on. Once the ball finally landed in the seats, it was now 7-1 to the Braves and Atlanta had some much needed breathing room (on many levels). Matt Olson had some fun four pitches later when Cuas threw a sinker that didn’t sink and Olson sent it flying into the seats in right field to make it an 8-1 game. Once the smoke cleared, the Braves had a six-run inning and it was one of those frames this team sorely needed to remind themselves of what they are truly capable of.

The Braves weren’t done there either! After Max Fried threw a save in the seventh inning, Atlanta added on in the top of the eighth inning as the Braves finally conceded a one-out double from Michael Harris II. You could give the Cubs an assist on this run, as a Nick Madrigal error allowed Harris to reach third base, then a wild pitch from Cuas essentially gave him the red carpet to go home to bring up the score at 9-1 at this point. . The Cubs got that run back in the bottom of the eighth after a couple of singles and a wild pitch on a strikeout allowed old friend Dansby Swanson to score from third base.

Other than that, the only drama left heading into the ninth inning was whether or not Max Fried would stay and compete in the full game. Sure enough, Fried got back out there for the ninth after throwing 94 pitches in eight innings. Fried finished the game with 105 pitches in nine innings, as he sat the final three batters to close out the game, give the Braves a dominant victory and earn his second complete game of the season to date. now.

To say this game was a palate cleanser would be an understatement. The offense broke out in a big way and the pitches continued to give opposing hitters plenty of fits. That was about all you could ask for in a Braves win at any point this season, but it was especially nice to see after all the fighting we’ve witnessed recently. Atlanta might need a lot more “palate cleansers” in the near future and I hope they win the series in tomorrow’s rubber match starting at 2:20 p.m. PMET.