3 takeaways: Freddie Freeman, Josh Donaldson power Atlanta Braves to series win
Max Fried was better, and that is welcome news for Atlanta
It’s been a tale of two seasons so far for young left-hander Max Fried.
Coming into Wednesday night’s start, there was a very clear contrast in his performance.
- First 10 starts: .121 BAA, 2.88 ERA
- Last 4 starts: .429 BAA, 7.53 ERA
Wednesday’s finale versus the Mets, though, was back to Good Max.
The line for Max looked like this: 6 IP, 2 ER, 8 H, 6 K, 1 BB.
Fried’s difference-maker was largely the effectiveness of his curveball again – something that had sorely been lacking his last few starts.
The curveball location down in the zone forced several – seven, to be exact – ground-ball outs for the Mets hitters, meaning that 13 of the 18 recorded outs by Fried were set down via either the strikeout or groundout.
Fried also controlled his fastball well, and his velocity sat solidly in the mid-90s even into his 5th and 6th innings of work, which provided enough of a differential to keep the New York hitters off-balance.
This outing for Fried is certainly a pleasing thing to see for Atlanta fans, as the Braves’ rotation, while good, still has its wobbly parts.
After all, Mike Foltynewicz hasn’t looked like the All-Star he was in 2018, while Kevin Gausman has been some kind of bad over the last month.
Dallas Keuchel’s impending debut with the Braves should help matters, but Max Fried’s regression his last few starts was indeed concerning.
It’s true that manager Brian Snitker will probably continue to carefully watch Fried’s innings and production moving forward, but Wednesday’s strong rebound outing against the Mets is hopefully a sign of good things to come for the left-hander.