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

The Atlanta Braves headed into Tuesday’s game with hopes of gaining ground on the NL East-leading Phillies. The offense absolutely exploded in the late innings as they took Game 1 from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With the Philadelphia Phillies in the midst of a 5-game losing streak, the Atlanta Braves headed into Tuesday’s matchup with the Pirates just a half of a game back from first place in the National League East.

Atlanta is currently in a 15-game stretch against teams with losing records. The results have been mixed as the Braves dropped the first three games of this journey but have responded nicely by winning three in a row.

The offense has continued to impose its will on opponents and Tuesday evening was no different.

Max Fried took the mound for the Atlanta Braves and sought to win his eighth game of the 2019 season. Fried was coming off of his worst start of the season, which saw him allow 4 earned runs on 9 hits to the Nationals.

Unfortunately, Fried continued to struggle a bit with his command on Tuesday. The Pirates would tag him for 5 runs on 9 hits across 4 innings of work.

The Braves found themselves down 5-3 as they entered the top of the 6th inning. They had slowly chipped away at the Pirates lead but couldn’t find that big hit.

Enter Austin Riley, who decided enough was enough as he launched an opposite field 3-run home run in the top of the 7th to give the Braves a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the game.

The Atlanta Braves offense would add on runs in the 8th and 9th innings as well. Those innings were highlighted by a 3-run homer by Josh Donaldson and a 2-run blast off the bat of Freddie Freeman.

Atlanta’s offense scored 10 unanswered runs across the final 4 innings of the game.

This was one of the best games that we’ve seen from the Braves offensively in 2019, so far.

Let’s get into a few takeaways from Tuesday’s electric win in the Steel City.

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).