Atlanta Braves: Austin Riley, Freddie Freeman help take down Pirates 12-5

1. Freeman Makes History

Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman continued his incredible work at the plate on Tuesday.

He went 3 for 6 with a home run and 2 RBI. One of those 3 hits placed Freeman in some prestigious company.

In the top of the 8th inning, Freeman laced a double to right field off of Pirates reliever Geoff Hartlieb. This was significant because it was double number 300 for the Atlanta Braves gold glove first baseman.

Freeman is now just the 6th player in franchise history to tally 300+ doubles and 200+ home runs. It’s not surprising that he has found himself among some of the greatest players to ever wear an Atlanta Braves uniform.

Of course, when asked about this feat in his post-game interview, Freeman downplayed his accomplishment as he usually does. What a guy.

He is on a torrid pace so far this season and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Freeman now carries a slash line of .310/.394/.578, an OPS of .972 with 15 HR and 37 RBI.

The Atlanta Braves first baseman has the second highest on-base percentage on the team, just behind Charlie Culberson. He also leads the team in hits (72), doubles (15), and home runs (15).

His 72 hits are also the 5th most in the National League. This isn’t surprising at all because Freeman has always shown the ability to make adjustments and come through when the team needs him most.

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As if this milestone wasn’t enough, he launched a home run in the 9th inning to right center field just for good measure. He needed to ensure he wasn’t overshadowed by Austin Riley and Josh Donaldson who each had 3 run home runs in Tuesday’s contest.

Don’t expect Freddie Freeman to slow down anytime soon. He is currently on pace for a 30+ home run and 100+ RBI season. He continues to place himself in the argument as the best first baseman in all of Major League Baseball.

2. Max Fried’s Struggles Continue

Atlanta Braves young ace Max Fried has had his share of issues lately after an incredible start to his 2019 season.

However, his previous start against the Nationals was definitely the worst of 2019 so far. In that start, Fried allowed a season-high of 9 hits to the Washington offense across 5.2 innings of work.

With an extra day of rest, the Braves hoped that he would be able to bounce back to the early dominance found by the 25-year-old southpaw.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case as Fried struggled to find command of his curveball early on and the Pirates made him pay for it.

After getting the first two outs in the bottom of the 1st with relative ease, the Pittsburgh offense rattled off 5 straight hits to put the Braves down 4-1 early on.

It was more of the same in the second inning as the Pirates would rack up 1 more run on 3 hits with 2 outs in the inning. It seemed like Fried just couldn’t find a pitch to put away hitters when he was ahead in the count.

The Atlanta Braves lefty would surrender 5 earned runs on 9 hits to the Pittsburgh offense Tuesday evening. Those 5 runs are the most he has allowed in a start so far in 2019.

The Braves starter settled down after the second inning but he would exit the game after just 4 innings of work. His pitch count was still manageable at 83 but I believe he was removed as an injury precaution.

Max was hit in the leg by a line drive off the bat of Elias Diaz in the bottom of the 4th inning. He grimaced a bit after making the out at first base. Seems that he was fine but I’m sure that was part of the reasoning for pulling him with a reasonable pitch count.

Fried’s final line was 4 IP, 9 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 83 pitches (53 strikes). A very similar start to last weeks game against the Nationals. It seems like the extra day of rest is not beneficial for Fried.

With 5 days of rest between starts in 2019, Fried carries an ERA of 10.80 allowing 8 earned runs on 13 hits with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .433 against him as well.

This is a stark contrast to when he is on normal rest between starts (4 games). In 41.2 innings pitched after normal rest, Max is 6-1 with a 2.59 ERA including 9 walks and 42 strikeouts. Opponents only bat .241 when he is on normal rest.

Max Fried would be the first to tell you that he’s got some things to work on before his next start.

Here’s what he had to say in his post-game interview:

This could be something for the Braves coaching staff to consider going forward. We definitely need Max to figure it out soon so he can get back to his winning ways.

3. Austin Riley – Rookie Phenom

Atlanta fans were likely concerned that the team was in jeopardy of dropping another game to a team with a losing record. However, in the top of the 7th inning that all changed.

Josh Donaldson would earn a walk and advance to second as Nick Markakis made it to first thanks to an error by Pirates right fielder Bryan Reynolds.

This set up a perfect moment for Austin Riley with runners on first and second base and 1 out in the inning. Riley would crush an opposite field 3-run homer on an 0-1 count to give the Atlanta Braves a 6-5 lead.

This home run was a huge momentum shift for the team as they put their foot on the accelerator and crushed the Pirates 12-5.

That home run was Austin Riley’s 9th of the 2019 season. He now has the fourth-most home runs on the team and has done so in just 18 games played at the Major League level.

Oh, and Riley’s 25 RBIs? There’s only one player in MLB history to reach this mark faster than Austin Riley. That player was Mandy Brooks who played 2 seasons for the Chicago Cubs.

The Braves phenom is currently slashing .324/.368/.732 with 9 home runs and 25 RBI in 71 at bats. His OPS sits at an absolutely ridiculous 1.101 and that places Riley fourth in OPS across all of MLB. 

This puts him right behind Cody Bellinger (1.194), Christian Yelich (1.154), and Anthony Rendon (1.111). As for his ridiculous slugging percentage, Riley is second to Bellinger (.734) in that category.

That’s some incredible company to keep if you’re Austin Riley.

As if you weren’t impressed enough, if you count his AAA at-bats, he has hit 22 homers this season. That puts him on pace for 50+ home runs for the year between both levels.

Those are some absolutely absurd numbers for a 22-year-old to be putting up. It isn’t a surprise because he has made hard contact with the ball 52.4% of the time.

Riley’s BABIP sits at an incredible .412 with a wRC+ of 174 (which is outstanding). For those who don’t know what wRC+ measures, it basically tells you how many runs a player is worth to their team.

League average for wRC+ sits at 100 and Riley is at 174 which means he is producing 74% more runs than a league average hitter is able to do in the same number of plate appearances.

The Atlanta Braves have a really special talent in Austin Riley. I know what you’re thinking… “duh, Steven”. It’s gotten to the point where we expect him to do something special every time there are runners on base.

He has given a confidence boost to this team that will likely last all season. Strap in Braves fans because it’s only going to get better from here.

The Braves and Pirates match-up again on Wednesday evening at 7:05 PM EST. Probable starters for tomorrow’s game are Kevin Gausman (2-4, 5.56 ERA) and Joe Musgrove (3-6, 4.57 ERA).